Steven Taylor, who joined the council in January 2004, reimbursed the city each month that he used the card for personal spending. He says he was never told that the card was strictly for city business.

"I should have used better judgment and I didn't, that's really what it amounts to," Taylor said Monday.

It didn't occur to Taylor that what he was essentially doing was borrowing on the public's credit for a few weeks at a time, he said. "I honestly never gave it a second thought."

City attorney Kymber Housley said Taylor did not follow city procedures, but his actions were not criminal since Taylor repaid the city each time he used the card.

The city just last week revised its policy on credit card use, which now applies to elected officials and not just employees.

Except for a phone conversation in late December, no one explained to Taylor how to use the card properly, Housley said. Nonetheless, "The appearance was it wasn't appropriate."

Housley said he asked Taylor to return the city credit card at a meeting in February; Taylor said it was his decision to turn in the card.

The credit card charges began late last June and early July, Taylor said.

He had carried the card since his first day in office, but had never used it.

But when he went to Las Vegas for two weeks of training for a new job - as a Best Buy sales manager - he began using the city card because his corporate credit card had not yet arrived.

More than half the $6,000 was racked up on that trip, for rental cars, food and other expenses, he said.

When he paid the credit card bill at city hall, Taylor was not warned it was an inappropriate to use the card for personal expenses, he said.

"Basically, I was told 'the card is issued to you and . . . if you've got personal charges on it, just take care of it.' "

The city's practice has been to allow personal use of credit cards only when it can't be avoided, Housley said. He gave an example of a city official using a city card to pay for ground transportation of a spouse rather than using two cards for one tab. In such cases, the official is expected to reimburse the city for the spouse's fare, Housley said.

After the trip to Las Vegas, Taylor used the card again on a trip to Arizona on council business.

Taylor was attending a symposium on environmental waste, and used the card to pay his cell phone bill by phone.

After that, his cell phone charges were automatically charged to the card each month until February.

The cell phone is used for personal and council business.

Taylor said he also bought his wife a $700 necklace and ring for her birthday and their anniversary in November, and charged part of it to the city card to hide the expense from her. "I did it intentionally and I didn't even think of it," Taylor said.

Taylor said he has been reimbursing the city for expenses that legitimately could be charged to the city. The last charge on the card, at Smith's, was for gas to attend a Utah League of Cities and Towns meeting, Taylor said.

Taylor reimbursed the city for the $18 charge.

Logan council members make a bit less than $500 every two weeks, and Taylor said he figured that was compensation enough.