Charleston Co. Audit Committee to discuss inappropriate spending from probate court Thursday

CHARLESTON COUNTY, S.C. (WCBD) – The Charleston County Audit Committee is set to discuss a current development within the Charleston Probate Court.

It comes after an audit revealed probate court employees misused a procurement card, inappropriately spending thousands of dollars.

The report found that over $15,000 was spent on unauthorized purchases from food to gift cards to employee perks. This happened over two and a half years, and now on Thursday, according to a council member, this inappropriate spending will be up for discussion and debate.

The findings were posted on Thursday’s upcoming audit committee agenda. According to the agenda, the investigation reviewed all procurement card, or P-card, transactions from October 2021 through early March this year.

136 transactions totaling just over $15,000 were P-card violations, but $651 was reimbursed and the credit card company reversed $276. Unauthorized food purchases at restaurants and supermarkets accounted for more than $9,500.

Ahead of Thursday’s committee meeting News 2 talked with Charleston County Councilwoman Jenny Honeycutt, on what to expect before Thursday’s discussions.

“I look forward to an open debate and discussion about this certainly give the probate office the benefit of the doubt, although there seem to be some questions. I look forward to hearing what they have to say about some of those expenditures, which I do understand are all well within their budget, it was just whether or not they met those procedural requirements of how to manage and record information on p-cards,” said councilwoman Honeycutt.

News 2 reached out to probate court Judge Irvin Condon before Thursday’s audit committee meeting; however, we are still awaiting a response.

That meeting begins at 5:00 p.m. Count on 2 to bring you the latest details that come from it.