More than five years ago, the City of Syracuse received a recommendation from a state agency: Fix your payroll system. Since then, the city has paid millions of dollars for the technology and contractors to do just that — except the new payroll systems aren’t entirely operable. On Friday, the city’s Chief Financial Officer Mike Cannizzaro told city employees in a 1 p.m. email obtained by Central Current the launch of one piece of the payroll upgrade — Oracle Human Capital Management, a technology that helps manage human resources and payroll — will be delayed. The rollout of Kronos, another piece of the launch, has also hit roadblocks, according to multiple sources within city government. Those sources spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on the record. Since the city in 2021 signed one of the first contracts to modernize its payroll and human resources systems, the city has agreed to contracts with three consultants worth up to about $10.55 million, according to Common Council agendas. It’s unclear, however, whether the city actually spent all $10.55 million the council authorized. The money spent on payroll modernization looms large: The city is likely to face a structural budget deficit in the next fiscal year, magnifying the importance of how every dollar is spent and how key cost saving measures like payroll modernization could be. Councilor Corey Williams, the chair of the body’s finance committee, said the failure to launch a portion of the modernization that was four years in the making is concerning. “That delay is essentially another admission that what they’ve been doing isn’t working,” Williams said. “I’ve got serious concerns over this project and have since the beginning of my time on the council. And this is just another indication that we’re not getting what we paid for.” Central Current reached out to city officials with questions about the failure to launch the next phase of its payroll modernization program at 1:30 p.m. on Friday. City officials did not comment in time for publication of this story because Central Current did not provide them enough time to respond, spokesperson Brooke Schneider said by email. Williams is unsure of what the council’s next steps will be and that he couldn’t yet commit to holding a finance committee meeting about the delay, he said.  The city’s effort to reform its payroll system started in 2019. That year, Mayor Ben Walsh hired Chief Administrative Officer Frank Caliva, who had been the chief operating officer at CenterState CEO. Walsh at the time told the Syracuse Post-Standard | Syracuse.com that Caliva was hired to move the city’s payroll and financial functions under one roof and to update the city’s systems. In an interview with a Post-Standard reporter, Walsh called the city’s current systems “antiquated,” according to the story. Four months later, New York State’s Financial Restructuring Board issued a report affirming Walsh’s opinion: It recommended the city update its payroll systems and said the FRB would provide a $2 million grant if the city completed the project. The FRB wrote that the city used a system dating back to the 1980s. That system, the IBM AS400, came out in 1988. The city’s payroll and timekeeping systems were decentralized and handled differently in each city department, the FRB found. In January 2020, the Common Council unanimously voted to accept the FRB’s grant to update its payroll system. It took about 15 months before the council approved its first contract to move toward implementing a new system in May 2021. The city signed that contract with Cherry Road Technologies for a four-phase payroll modernization program. Cherry Road agreed to implement Kronos, which includes timesheets and time tracking, and Telestaff, a scheduling technology. Since then, the value of the contracts and estimated cost of the project appear to have continually ballooned. The initial contract, meant to cost $1.9 million and last 18 months, ultimately was extended through Dec. 31, 2023, and its maximum value was increased to about $2.4 million. The city and council extended the contract about a year past its initial estimated end date. According to two sources in city government, the implementation didn’t go as planned. The city launched its new timekeeping platform “Syracuse Workforce Central” in late December 2022, according to emails and memos obtained by Central Current. In January 2023, the city began training employees on the timekeeping system.  Ultimately, that original timekeeping system didn’t work for everyone in city government. It couldn’t capture the full range of data that needed to be input beyond timekeeping, sources said. During the launch, employees tracked their time to be put into the AS400 system, sources said. But some employees eventually abandoned the new timekeeping system, multiple sources said. They kept manually tracking their hours, which were put into the AS400 system — the same system the FRB and the mayor labeled as antiquated, multiple sources said.In 2023, the city involved at least two other consultants and contractors in its effort to update payroll, according to Common Council agendas. The council approved contracts with Advanced IT, a local company, and Ernst & Young, the national consultants. The mayor’s office waived the bidding process on Advanced IT’s contract, a nearly six-month contract that began in July 2023. Councilors unanimously approved the more than $1.8 million contract. Three months later, they approved a $2.2M contract with EY. The two organizations were meant to implement Oracle HCM. Councilors met in May 2024 about the EY contract as they were considering amending it. Williams called a finance committee meeting to discuss the potential of increasing the value of the contract with EY to $6.4 million. Between October 2023 and May, the contract’s value had been increased to $4 million. During the meeting, Director of Human Resources Rick Alsever and Cannizzaro addressed the council. They told the council then that they believed they could implement Oracle HCM with help from 15 or more EY consultants by October 2024. “The way we’re set up right now, HR and payroll will be done by the new calendar year,” Alsever said. The council unanimously approved the increase in funds for EY. Caliva on Nov. 25 sent an email briefing all city employees about the switch to Oracle. The email was obtained by Central Current. In it, he outlined upcoming trainings to begin as January approached. He highlighted how Oracle would help city employees access payroll dashboards and direct deposit information. It would bring updates to the city’s timekeeping and scheduling systems, he wrote. “The New Year (2025) will begin with the initial rollout of the City’s new Human Capital Management (HCM) system,” Caliva wrote.Instead, on Friday, Cannizzaro sent an email informing city department heads of the nixed rollout.  “I regret to inform you,” Cannizzaro wrote, “that the Oracle HCM system go-live originally scheduled for January 1st, 2025, has been delayed.”  read more of central current’s coverage New York State council issues child poverty recommendations An advisory group set up under a 2021 state law finalized its proposals to cut child poverty in half. by Julia Rock, New York Focus December 20, 2024December 20, 2024 Amanda Rogers made Pink Rock Culture Co-op into the venue she’s always wanted Rogers, formerly a touring musician, created Pink Rock to be an intimate space that hosts anything from concerts to poetry readings. by Yolanda Stewart December 19, 2024December 19, 2024 CNY Community Foundation awards $55,000 to support hiring a new reporter The new reporter will begin in July 2025 and will cover a housing and infrastructure beat, focusing on the I-81 viaduct removal, the community grid construction, and public housing redevelopment unfolding in Syracuse. by Maximilian Eyle December 19, 2024December 19, 2024 Syracuse is on the verge of getting its 1st community fridge: ‘Food is a basic human right’ The community fridge could open as soon as January at All Saints Church. 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