The Traffic Cone

“Guiding you over and around the bumps of your payroll journey”

Provided by Syl Luhring – Payroll Supervisor, State Accounting (471-1460)

August 25, 2009

B-18 Payroll – Certification Deadline Changed

Due to the Labor Day holiday, the certification deadline will be moved back one day (to September 2^nd). I realize that this puts several of you in a crunch so we are extending the time of the deadline to 4:00. We should still have time to complete the payroll process on Thursday and forward the files to the bank and print shop for processing Thursday night.

Warrant update

Thanks for your diligence in assisting me with the reduction of warrant use in payroll. Earlier this year, we were averaging 1200 warrants a pay period. This last Bi-weekly payroll used only 581 with about half of those being used for summer help. Monthly warrants at the end of August totaled 91 – down from 191 at the start. There are a total of 64 agencies in the payroll system (both monthly and bi-weekly). Only 27 are still using warrants and 12 of those continue to use only 1 warrant each pay cycle.

We have about three weeks to go before the deadline (September 14^th) so please continue to harvest the information from those that still do not have direct deposit set up for their payroll and/or expense reimbursement. This should include any Board Member, Commissioner, or Committee Member set up in the payroll system for payment. Monthly employees will receive the last warrant and reminder notice for the August payroll. Agencies with monthly payroll should begin contacting the employees still using the warrant and switch them to direct deposit. The instructions for identifying those still receiving a warrant were included in a recent Traffic Cone. You can find a copy of that issue with the title Thank You at the following link:

http://www.das.state.ne.us/accounting/nis/payroll.html#_Correspondence

Expense Reimbursement and Direct Deposit

As many of you have noted, not all recipients of expense reimbursement payments are set up in the system as employees. Many Board Members, Commissioners and Committee Members, although technically classified as employees, were, instead, set up in NIS with a search type of N or PP for payment of mileage and other expenses through Accounts Payable methods. If paid a per diem, they were set up in payroll with a search type of E.

Attempts to unravel this setup will require more time. That being said, we are sticking with the goal of 0 warrants issued for payroll and expenses of all “employees” with a search type of “E” currently set up in payroll by September 30^th - the last pay date of the month. We will continue to work toward a solution for the deposit of reimbursements made to employees with a search type of N or PP and are extending that goal to December 31. Please bear with us as we strive to reach that goal.