Payroll Outsourcing Discussion Tabled

Pulaski County Commissioners Larry Brady, Terry Young and Tracey Shorter
Pulaski County Commissioners Larry Brady, Terry Young and Tracey Shorter

The Pulaski County Commissioners will hold off on a decision regarding a new method of capturing payroll information.

Auditor Shelia Garling told Commissioners Larry Brady and Terry Young that she’s done a lot of research with outsourcing the payroll. In talking with other auditors, she’s found that it could be a bigger hassle than needed.

Garling explained some of her concerns.

“One of them is making sure the money is pulled from our appropriations so we know what our balances are in there each payroll,” said Garling. “The other thing is is our PERF. Harris does some sort of spreadsheet and tells exactly what our PERF premium is. The other thing that was a big fear of mine was that the county council would make my payroll clerk part-time.”

She talked to representatives about a time clock system where employees could scan, compute or call in their times. The downfall on that is it would cost the employees $3.50 per month. Plus, it would cost $10,000 a year and a company was chosen to outsource the payroll it would cost the county $25,000 a year. Garling said she’s afraid that it’s going to cost the county too much money and if it fails it’s going to be a bigger mess.

She noted that the current way of doing the payroll is not working. She’s also looking for a better outsourced HR for small business that the county can hire.

The commissioners suggested that she continue in her research and come back with more information in the next three to six months.