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Treasurer outlines payroll hires and ADP use; council declines immediate finance‑director hire
Summary
Charlestown treasurer detailed a new payroll/benefits hire intended to free existing staff for treasury work, explained ongoing use of ADP for complex payroll processing, and councilors debated — but did not approve — creating a finance‑director position at this time.
Charlestown’s treasurer presented staffing changes and payroll operations as part of the budget review, including a new payroll/benefits hire and continued use of ADP for payroll processing.
The treasurer said the new hire will take over payroll and benefits work to free existing staff for higher‑level treasury functions. The new employee is scheduled to start soon; staff said the hire should reduce single‑point dependence and improve readiness for events such as audits or staff illness.
Treasury staff explained that the town uses ADP for full‑service payroll processing, including two payroll runs per month, tax filings and specialized reporting. Officials said ADP’s services are expensive but provide expertise and support that would be hard to replicate in‑house; staff described the vendor work as more than ‘‘cutting checks,’’ citing reporting and filing support that ADP supplies.
Councilors asked whether the town could smooth certain vendor costs across years to avoid a single‑year spike; staff said multi‑year reserve planning is possible but that keeping such funds in a reserve can obscure department‑level budget lines.
Members debated an auditor recommendation to add a finance‑director position. Multiple councilors said they prefer to build internal capacity and ‘‘ease into’’ any new supervisory position rather than hire an outside director now; several officials praised the treasurer’s work and supported deferring a separate finance‑director hire.
Staff proposed possible operational changes to give payroll staff more lead time (for example, moving the pay period) but noted such a change would require union discussions.
No formal vote was taken on adding a finance director at this meeting; councilors agreed to monitor progress during the coming year and revisit the issue if needed.
