Shared Service Agreement Said to Bring Revenue to District

A shared services agreement with the South Hackensack School District for payroll processing and other financial services will bring in additional revenue for the district, according to township officials.

The passed a resolution Thursday night to share its accounts payable, payroll processing and other financial services with South Hackensack for a fee, which has not been finalized yet, board members said.  

Board President Richard Giarratana explained that although the Heights district will receive money from South Hackensack for the use of their system, the shared services deal provides a savings to the neighboring district as well.

During a time of fiscal restraint, the administration has been looking for ways to bring in additional revenue, Dina Messary, the Board Administrator, explained.

Messery added that the borough changed over to a CSI processing system from ADP as it was not conducive to a school district’s payroll. When the board discussed the idea of sharing these administrative services with South Hackensack, Messery suggested they take on the whole accounting system and not just payroll. Currently South Hackensack has had to manually process some of its reports and payroll, she added.

She added that the district lost so much in state aid last year and they do not know what they may lose this year and therefore have looked to "out of the box" ways of bringing in more money.

A parent asked if the shared service agreement means that there are plans to bring South Hackensack students here. Officials and administrators said that is not on the agenda right now.

The only goal at this time was to work together in a way that reduces the budgets for both districts, officials said. South Hackensack already has a sending relationship with Hackensack.

Dr. Mark Porto, school superintendent, stated that he hopes that Hasbrouck Heights will be seen as an innovator in creating shared services.