Finance staff outlines software upgrades, online utility payments and proposed limited credit-card use; payroll reporting nearing 'gold' certification

Hudson City finance staff reported several administrative updates intended to reduce manual work and improve compliance. Staff said the city upgraded its general-ledger, tax collection and water/sewer collection software during 2025 and expects to accept online water and sewer payments for the first time this year. Staff noted technical limits prevent some multi-payment billing functionality for metered customers and said the vendor is working on solutions.

On procurement, staff said an older resolution currently restricts credit-card use across city operations because of past fraud. To gain limited efficiencies (for example, pre-paid postage envelopes available only by card), staff proposed drafting a resolution to permit controlled credit-card use overseen by the treasurer’s office with approvals, reconciliations and monthly oversight to prevent abuse.

Staff also described challenges meeting the New York State Local Retirement System’s increasing reporting requirements and said payroll-integration issues have been addressed enough to expect 'gold' certification later in the year. Staff credited a specific employee (Danielle in the transcript) for sustained work on the certification effort and said certification should reduce recurring administrative contacts from the retirement system.

Committee members signaled openness to review a draft procurement resolution and asked staff to return with proposed controls. The committee did not take formal votes on these administrative items during the meeting.