School District Taking Payroll In-House

In a move designed to cut costs in the long term and open up possibilities for shared services with other districts and municipalities, the West Deptford Board of Education at its December meeting approved the purchase of new accounting software to manage the district's payroll.

The $17,450 software module will replace an $18,000 annual contract with Egg Harbor Township-based CASA Payroll Service, and is the first step in moving toward a larger package from Systems 3000, a software company that specializes in financial applications for New Jersey school districts.

William Thompson, board secretary and district business administrator, said the rest of the software package could be put together in the middle of 2011, but the payroll module had to be adopted now, because the new payroll year starts Jan. 1.

"This allows us to take payroll in-house," Thompson said, adding that the changeover to the System 3000 software package represents an upgrade to the district's current accounting system.

District superintendent Kevin Kitchenman added, "This will modernize our entire accounting process."

School board president Jim Mehaffey said that the software gives the school district flexibility beyond in-house accounting.

While there haven't been any official discussions, Mehaffey said the move makes possible shared services agreements with other districts and municipalities, noting that the school district could recoup some of the cost of the new software as a result of those potential agreements.