County payroll system issues create time wasting effects

Emily Gojmerac

Reporter

Fast and efficient are not two words that any of the IT Department employees would use to describe the payroll system at the Taylor County Courthouse.

Tuesday afternoon members of the information technology committee came together to share their opinions and frustrations about the payroll system that was purchased and implemented a year ago to replace the AS400 mainframe system that had been in place for many years.

ExecuTime is the payroll system and the majority of the concerns come from the different pay codes that have to be used for the various jobs in the county departments. Taylor County currently has 169 pay codes that have to be used in order for employees to get paid from the correct accounts.

The need for improvement of the system became apparent with staffing changes in the human resources and payroll and accounting departments. Human resources director Nicole Hager has told the staff that something must be done to simplify the system, the committee has support for the county to put some time into improving the system.

Melissa Lind, Taylor County Information Technology Director, explained some of the issues.

“The pay code did not deduct from 80 hours salary for detectives because you got the law enforcement group, who is technically 84 hours, so now there are some rule that is not getting brought over because detectives are 80 hours/pay period,” she said. “So with the difference of hours between employees that creates two separate codes right there.”

Law enforcement is the main department that is causing a lot of time consuming problems for this system. With various people performing multiple jobs within their shifts, all at different pay rates, it makes it very hard for the system to keep track of how these employees should get paid for their work.

“They have different people working different hours and then you could have one person working first shift into second shift, that’s two separate codes, then if they are training, that is another pay code, then you have overtime mixed in, it makes it very hard to keep track of payroll,” Lind said.

“They are not only getting paid for every little task they are doing, but also the task within that job. People who are in the National Guard, who are on duty is also another code. Other jobs that require a separate code are dispatch, but that also creates another code for jail dispatch second shift, then if that person has overtime that creates another code. The system can’t keep up with the amount of codes that we are giving it,” she said.

“There are too many codes and the codes overlap and contradict each other. It’s hard to find common ground,” committee chairman Mike Bub added.

Newest member to the board, Lori Floyd, who in the past has worked for the State Patrol, offered the suggestion that the officers themselves put in their own individual codes if they are performing various jobs while they are on duty to save some extra steps.

Lind said that would help a little, but it still wouldn’t fix the issue from the payroll standpoint.

Bub told Lind and the rest of the people on the board that it would be a shame to not use this system that the county paid good money for, for it to not be used. He would like to see the system being used and working properly so it can benefit everyone in the courthouse.

After much discussion the decision was made to get codes from both Clark and Juneau counties, who also use the ExecuTime system and compare how many codes they have implemented. If the amount is less, then changes will be made to see how the system can be simplified.

In other business:

  Zoom phones have been installed within the courthouse. The old equipment was 12 years old and created several network crashes throughout the entire courthouse. While some analog lines are still being used, along with some trailing bills from providers, in the long run this change to the new phone system will save the county approximately $34,929.12/year. The features haven’t been initiated yet, but one of the newer features is that people who work in the courthouse will be able to forward their office number to their personal cell phone, so it will ring whenever their office phone rings. This will eliminate the need for employees to give out their personal phone number while they are away from their desks.

  The contract for the internet within the courthouse expires in May 2023. Afterwards a new contract through WANRack will be established. By switching from the current provider to WANRack, the monthly payment would be approximately $1,700/month as opposed to $2,286.20/month. This would equal out to be an annual savings of $42,586.92 for the county.

  When all is said and done, the courthouse will be the central hub for the county once the new fiber optic cable is installed. Due to several delays committee members felt that the end is far from being in sight.