Town workshop hears payroll vendor could save hours and ease audits

Chair and staff discussed a plan to move the town’s payroll and timekeeping to an outside vendor and mobile app aimed at streamlining payroll processing.

At the meeting, the staff member leading the presentation said the vendor handles federal and state tax filings, quarterly and monthly reports and fixes prior compliance issues. "She used to do 12 hours worth on just doing all of the forms and taxes and deductions a week… that's 624 hours a year we're saving, plus that goes out to over $18,000 we're saving a year," the staff member said.

The committee pressed on practical details. A committee member asked how the system would handle incorrect clock-ins and whether corrections must go through department heads; members also sought confirmation that employees could opt out of biometric clocking by clocking in through the phone app. Staff confirmed the app supports biometric clock-in (face ID), a phone app alternative and mileage tracking for on-call work.

Members flagged audit implications. Staff said the vendor had corrected past filing mistakes and made audits easier by ensuring compliance with filing requirements. Committee members requested follow-up information: how payroll errors would be corrected in practice; per-paycheck costs for individual employees; and a demonstration of how the app would capture vacations, sick leave and family medical leave.

The committee did not take a formal vote but agreed to ask staff to provide the vendor’s contract details, per-paycheck cost estimates and an implementation timeline to bring back to a future session.