Syracuse finance committee weighs hiring Mosaic to finish payroll modernization using UKG

City finance officials told the Syracuse City Finance Committee on Tuesday they plan to finish a long-running payroll modernization by implementing UKG Pro and contracting Mosaic Consulting Group to manage the build-out.

The presentation, led by Josh Siresen, project manager in the API department, and Mike Messer Smith, assistant director of HR, laid out why staff said the city must move away from its legacy AS/400 payroll system toward a vendor-hosted human capital management (HCM) platform. Staff said the change would shorten manual workflows, improve reporting and give employees self-service tools.

"With an actual modern human capital system, it's a few key strokes and a click," Siresen said, explaining that the city would gain faster personnel transactions and better data to manage overtime and scheduling. Messer Smith added bluntly, "We are so tired of dealing with AS 400 and processing paperwork like we're still running the Erie Canal. We're a modern city... We're done. We're over it."

Why it matters: Staff stressed the move would reduce frequent payroll corrections and allow on-demand reporting that departments currently cannot produce. Officials said about 70% of the city's workforce is already using digital timekeeping tools (including Telestaff and SWC), which makes a consolidated HCM more feasible.

What staff reported: Presenters said timekeeping is roughly 70% live across departments; the city employs about 2,000 people; a recent correction required retro payments to 24 police officers dating back to 2021 and took an estimated 40 staff hours to resolve. Staff also reported roughly $7.8 million spent on the overall project to date, split approximately between SWC-related work and prior Oracle-related work.

Vendor choice and risks: Staff said they evaluated multiple vendors and opted for UKG Pro as a software-as-a-service solution to avoid the heavy maintenance burden they experienced with an earlier Oracle Fusion approach. Josh Siresen said Mosaic Consulting Group emerged from an RFP as the most qualified implementation partner. Staff emphasized they lack in-house UKG Pro expertise and view an implementation partner as necessary to meet the timeline.

Council questions and clarifications: Council members repeatedly pressed staff for numbers, timelines and contractual safeguards. One councilor asked whether adopting an outside payroll processor (ADP or Paychex) had been considered; staff said those options were evaluated but were either cost-prohibitive or did not meet local service expectations. A councilor also asked whether staff reductions were expected; Chief Financial Officer Mike De Nizaro said, "I don't think... you're not looking at laying anyone off," adding the likely effect would be redeploying staff to more value-added work.

Timeline and next steps: Staff said the full HCM implementation would be a 12–18 month effort and estimated completion by June or July next year, subject to contract negotiations with Mosaic and final council approvals. Staff also reported an intended decommissioning window for AS/400 payroll and HR demographic functions in mid-2027 and a potential end-of-life for the SWC timekeeping product around July 1, 2026; councilors flagged those dates for clarification in the contract because of some inconsistent references in the presentation.

Action: No formal procurement contract was approved at the meeting. The committee closed the presentation, asked staff to circulate the slide deck and appendices with detailed cost and timeline information, and then adjourned.

The Finance Committee is expected to review a proposed contract and any enabling legislation before any funds are committed to the implementation partner.