Payroll Clerk

Poughkeepsie City School District; New York (NY); On-site; USD 52,000 - 66,000; Full time

Job summary

Poughkeepsie City School District is seeking a Payroll Clerk to manage the district's payroll processes and ensure timely and accurate payments to employees and related agencies.

The role requires thorough knowledge of payroll procedures, data entry accuracy, and the ability to coordinate with banks, retirement systems, and state/federal tax authorities. This is a position within the district's financial unit, handling the full payroll cycle.

Qualifications

• Graduation from high school or possession of a high school equivalency diploma.
• Associate’s degree in Business, Finance, Accounting, or Bookkeeping or equivalent combination of education and experience.
• One year of full-time paid work experience maintaining financial accounts and records, including payroll records; or three years of related experience.

Responsibilities

• Reviews, confirms and enters payroll data, including hours, deductions, and changes.
• Balances totals and runs preliminary payroll reports and final payroll for distribution.
• Prepares payments to outside agencies and direct deposit transactions.
• Completes forms and answers inquiries from financial institutions regarding payroll.
• Enrolls employees into proper retirement systems and updates records.
• Reviews salary changes due to increments, longevities, or title changes.
• Interacts with other departments to resolve payroll issues and ensure accuracy.
• Provides clerical support as needed (photocopying, faxing, etc.).

Skills

Payroll processing

Data entry

Financial record keeping

Education

High school diploma or equivalent

Associate’s degree in Business, Finance, Accounting, or Bookkeeping

Equivalent combination of education, training and experience

Job description

Job Description

Payroll Clerk

Poughkeepsie City School District

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS: (A) Graduation from high school or possession of a high school equivalency diploma and: EITHER: Associate’s degree in Business, Finance, Accounting, or Bookkeeping; OR: OR: OR: (B) (C) (D) Associate’s degree and one (1) year of full time paid work experience maintaining financial accounts and records, which involved the maintenance of payroll records; Three (3) years of full time paid work experience maintaining financial accounts and records, one (1) year of which involved the maintenance of payroll records; An equivalent combination of education, training and experience as defined by the limits of (A) through (C) above.

NOTE: Qualifying work experience in the maintenance of payroll records includes activities related to processing payroll, deductions, garnishments, retirement calculations and related activities. Experience in tallying hours and data entry will NOT be considered as qualifying experience.

NOTE: Only education gained at a regionally accredited college or university or one accredited by the New York State Board of Regents to grant degrees is acceptable for purposes of qualification.

*This position is being offered provisionally. Passing an exam is required to receive a permanent appointment.

DISTINGUISHING FEATURES OF THE CLASS: This position is responsible for processing a periodic payroll for a large organization. It is located specifically in a financial department or unit charged with this responsibility. The incumbent enters and verifies payroll related information according to strict time frames, runs a number of reports to check the overall payroll, then produces and distributes pay checks. The incumbent is also responsible for completing reports and distributing payments to other agencies, including banks, retirement systems, and the state and federal government. This position differs from other positions located in various departments and units that process payroll information in that the Payroll Clerk is responsible for the entire payroll process through the distribution of funds to employees, banks and tax revenue agencies. The work is performed under specific legal requirements and operational guidelines, but requires detailed attention to information and the investigation and correction of payroll related errors or omissions. The position generally does not supervise other employees, but may direct the work of aides, interns, temporary employees and other lower level employees.

TYPICAL WORK ACTIVITIES: The following is indicative of the level and types of activities performed by incumbents in this title. It is not meant to be all inclusive and does not preclude a supervisor from assigning activities not listed which could reasonably be expected to be performed by an employee in this title.

1. Reviews, confirms and enters information into payroll system, including hours and benefit time, deductions, exemptions, garnishments, special pay factors and changes in name and address;


2. Balances manual totals with system totals; runs preliminary reports and registers to balance system and review for errors; runs final payroll and reports and distributes checks;


3. Prepares periodic payments for outside agencies including payments to annuities, retirement systems, banks for direct deposit, disability insurance companies, Workers Compensation, Social Security, Medicare and federal and state tax agencies;


4. Completes forms and answers inquiries from financial institutions concerning employment, income and deductions;


5. Enrolls employees into proper retirement system;


6. Reviews and confirms salary changes resulting from increments, longevities and changes in title or salary grade;


7. Interacts with personnel from other departments and units to clarify payroll issues and resolve payroll problems;


8. Performs a variety of clerical support work based on unit needs including photocopying, faxing and similar activities.

FULL PERFORMANCE KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND ABILITIES: Knowledge of computational skills sufficient to verify calculations, balance accounts and prorate totals; Knowledge of payroll practices and procedures; Knowledge of contracts and rules governing the administration of salary plans; Knowledge of office practices necessary for interacting with staff and the public, processing work flow, and filing and retrieving information; Knowledge of software packages for word processing to produce memos and letters, database management and spreadsheets to compile and produce lists and repor