Kaufman County approves UKG payroll, scheduling agreements totaling about $1.28 million

Kaufman County commissioners on Sept. 29 voted to approve two software agreements with UKG that county staff said will replace legacy systems for payroll, human resources and sheriff's scheduling.

Procurement staff told the court the UKG Ready contract, covering payroll, HR, timekeeping and benefits modules, carries an estimated five-year base price of "approximately 1,100,000," and the UKG Telestaff scheduling package for the sheriff was listed at "approximately 183,000." Both agreements include an initial five-year term with an additional three-year renewal option. County staff said the purchases will modernize payroll and staffing processes that county employees have struggled to manage in the current system.

Sheriff (identified in the transcript as speaker 11) told the court the vendor made concessions during negotiations: "UKG is, really been beat up pretty good by us to get what we want out of this and, they've made a lot of agreements..." He said the county secured changes the sheriff's office wanted and that the software should ease payroll and scheduling duties.

County discussion touched on training and past problems with prior systems. One participant described persistent manual work under the old system and said the new tools should reduce comp-time headaches and automate on-call notifications. The judge and staff said legal counsel had reviewed the contracts and reported no outstanding open issues.

A motion to approve execution of both agreements was made and seconded; the court voted and the motion carried.

The procurement presentation and the sheriff's remarks took place during the contract item discussion; staff and elected officials said they expect the systems to ease administrative workloads but acknowledged the purchase is a substantial up-front county investment.