Treasurer Peake urges payroll reclassification, seeks assistant and urges cautious software review

Treasurer Pete Peake presented three linked budget requests at the June 18 workshop: reclassify the current payroll coordinator to a payroll manager (a two‑grade increase), add a full‑time payroll assistant, and purchase new office furniture for his long‑outdated staff workstations. "Erica as our payroll coordinator is flying a $1,200,000 plane every 2 weeks," Peake said, describing the workload tied to biweekly payroll processing and arguing the office needs redundancy.

Peake said the payroll coordinator role has grown substantially over 15 years with responsibilities such as benefits remittance, W‑2 processing, workers' comp filings and many open‑records requests. He proposed promoting the current coordinator and adding a full‑time assistant to prevent service disruption and reduce single‑person dependency. Commissioners probed whether technology — including time‑clock systems and third‑party payroll platforms — could reduce staffing needs. Peake said his office has evaluated vendors in the past and warned against being an unproven early adopter: "If y'all could guarantee me if we transitioned, that I would never miss a payroll, which, again, was 1 of my 2 top priorities. If y'all could do that, I'm all ears."

Auditor and staff representatives said they are researching options and cautioned about migration risks: current NetData software has been in place since the early 2000s and converting historical records requires care. Commissioners asked staff to provide cost comparisons between staffing and technology solutions to inform the final budget decision. The court did not vote on personnel changes at the workshop; Peake said he will provide further details and job descriptions to support any reclassification and a new position request.