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Sutter County approves temporary accounting staff after Workday rollout delays
Summary
The Sutter County Board approved one flexibly staffed accounting technician and one limited-term auditor position to support payroll and claims processing tied to last year's Workday ERP rollout. Auditor-Controller Nate Block reported claims processing has improved to about a one-week turnaround but said continued fixes are needed.
The Sutter County Board of Supervisors on Thursday approved the addition of two temporary accounting positions for the Auditor-Controller's office to help resolve lingering payroll and claims-processing issues arising from the county's April-May 2024 transition to the Workday enterprise resource planning (ERP) platform.
"We are doing payroll for over 1,100 people," Auditor-Controller Nate Block said in public comment, while acknowledging implementation had produced gaps that required ongoing fixes. He said claims processing had at times taken more than 30 days and that the county is now "down to a week" turnaround on claims, crediting staff and interdepartmental efforts for the improvement.
Veronica Baumgartner, the county's human resources director, told the board staff had held a vacant HHS accounting technician post in anticipation of Workday needs and that Health & Human Services would fund the accounting-technician position so there would be no increase to the general fund. She said the limited-term auditor/accountant position would cost about $24,509 for the remainder of FY 24-25 and an estimated $124,070 for FY 25-26.
Supervisor Ziegenmeier initially moved to table the staffing request to get more detail on Workday performance, citing constituent complaints and the desire for a fuller departmental briefing. Supervisor Baines and others said the Auditor-Controller's office is understaffed and that temporary help was necessary to keep payroll and claims processing running. A subsequent motion to approve the recommended staffing passed on a roll-call vote with supervisors Boone, Flores, Ziegenmeier, Baines and Stevens recorded as voting "aye." The board also asked staff to agendize a fuller Workday status report for a future meeting.
Budget and next steps: Baumgartner said the accounting technician would be funded in the HHS admin budget for FY 24-25 and included in the FY 25-26 request; the limited-term auditor position would be charged through the annual cost plan and proportionately to local, state and federal programs. The board directed staff to return with additional information on Workday performance and departmental impacts.
The board's vote authorizes county staff to add the positions and incorporate the costs into the FY 25-26 budget process; staff will report back to the Board with a Workday status update as requested.
