Why raise purchase threshold?

Why?
That’s a question we haven’t really heard answered when it comes to a proposal that would allow county officials to spend up to $2,000 without prior approval from Jay County Commissioners.
The issue, raised several weeks ago by Jay County Sheriff Ray Newton, has apparently been a source of confusion for years.
Almost everyone, including the commissioners and Newton, was operating under the belief that the threshold for spending without prior approval was and is $500.
In fact, a resolution adopted in 1998 had raised the purchase level to $5,000.
Several weeks later Commissioners Milo Miller Jr., Mike Leonhard and Gary Theurer apparently reconsidered and wanted to lower the amount to $500, but never officially made the change.
Newton, who is in his second and final term, has been a solid and steady leader for county law enforcement. He argued the $500 spending level makes it difficult for him to operate his office, citing the purchase of Taser non-lethal weapons as one example of a purchase for which he must receive prior approval.
We understand there are times when purchasing policies make life cumbersome for government officials. But those policies are there to provide oversight and to help prevent the rare dishonest official from making an unwise or illegal purchase.
Although it has thankfully been several years since it has happened, public officials in Jay County have been caught red-handed stealing public funds — something that would only be made easier by increasing the limit that could be spent without approval.
In a discussion last week, Miller was the only one of the three commissioners to argue for continuation of the $500 threshold. He said he didn’t want to give the power to spend up to $2,000 without approval.
He was out-voted 2-1 by Jim Zimmerman and Faron Parr, who said they had no problem with the $2,000 level.
The $2,000 threshold is not in effect yet, and won’t until the resolution is adopted; that could happen as early as Tuesday.
It just doesn’t make sense to allow anyone to use taxpayer funds to make purchases without prior approval that any individual taxpayer would consider “major.” — M.S.[[In-content Ad]]