JEFFERSON —
County employees who have been holding out on direct deposit for their payroll will have to go paperless come July.
Auditor Roger Corlett, whose office processes the payroll for county employees, told commissioners in a work session Tuesday that a change in the state law allows the county to make it mandatory for all employees to receive their wages by direct deposit. Corlett said current policy is that only new employees are required to be paid electronically.
Department heads were notified of the change when they picked up their checks for staff on Thursday. The new policy becomes effective with the first pay in July. Further, Corlett is requesting that employees submit bank account information to the auditor by June 18 so a test deposit may be made to the account.
“We pretest every account before we actually send a payroll to it,” Corlett said.
There are still 240 county employees who have not elected to use direct deposit. Corlett said there is no reason why an employee should not be able to open a bank account to receive the future payrolls.
Eventually, pay stubs will also be eliminated as the county, next year, adopts an e-suite that will give employees access to a digital copy of the stub. Commissioners suggested that a computer in the law library be used by employees without a computer or Internet access at home.
Cost savings and efficiency are driving the switch. Corlett said the difference in the bank fee for processing a check versus making a direct deposit is up to a dime per transaction. He also anticipates savings in personnel time and materials.
“This will save us, in the long run, some money,” Corlett said.
Commissioners pointed out that most of the private sector went to direct deposit of payroll years ago.
Click here to subscribe to The Star Beacon print edition.
Click here to subscribe to The Star Beacon replica edition.
