Mastic Beach trustee, mayor spar over $19.73 credit card charge

At a Mastic Beach village board meeting last month, trustee Anne Snyder accused Mayor Maura Spery of improperly using her village-issued Home Depot credit card.

The items purchased: powdered doughnuts, candy, gum and Sprite, among other treats. The bill: $19.73.

Snyder — who ran on the same ticket with Spery last March — went so far as to call the use of the card “illegal.” Spery said the credit card is often used by the highway department.

“I’ve never purchased one thing at Home Depot. This came to our attention immediately after it happened. We dealt with it immediately and we brought in the employees who made those purchases,” Spery said. “We not only reprimanded them and put it in their file, but we made them repay the village. I had nothing to do with that.”

Village officials said the list of items bought on the card included: fruit punch, powdered doughnuts, candy, Sprite, Vitamin Water and Big Red chewing gum. The $19.73 bill was run up between October and November.

“I understand this adds up to less than $20 but there is sales tax on these things and this is not supposed to be going on village-issued credit cards,” Snyder said.

Trustee Elizabeth Manzella vouched for Spery, saying she was in village hall when officials found out about the purchases. Manzella said she immediately notified employees in the finance department.

On top of the credit card charges, Snyder also said the mayor failed to investigate a Jan. 7 squatter home complaint on behalf of a resident, and that her request for financial reports such as salaries paid and the number of village employees has been refused by officials.

Deputy Village Clerk Wendy Scharf said the finance department is understaffed.

The request hasn’t been refused, and the department is working on it, Scharf said.