The Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority for the city of Pittsburgh met on Wednesday afternoon for its regular quarterly meeting. Among the topics discussed were efforts by City Controller Michael Lamb to move paper invoices to an electronic format.
Lamb said this project would save the city $115,000 annually. Of the $25,000 they originally had for this project, he said they had spent $18,000 on the E-Docs system, had $7,000 remaining and requested an additional $16,000. The ICA agreed to grant them this money.
“This is a wonderful project and we need to do more of these in the city. Spending $18,000, $25,000 to save $115,000 annually is a win for every taxpayer,” said ICA Board Member Michael Danovitz.
The ICA collaborates with Pittsburgh’s efforts for financial stability.
Also on Wednesday, Mayor Bill Peduto released a report on cost increases during the installation of a payroll module that was part of a 2011 joint city-county agreement on a financial management system. The report says the city payroll project was $1 million over budget and had not been approved by City Council.
The project had gone from a budget of $264,000 to more than $1.2 million. It was behind schedule and mismanaged, according to a report from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
When Peduto became mayor last year, he stopped the payroll module project, which caused strife between him and the ICA, which is withholding $10 million in gaming revenue. It also caused strife with Lamb. According to the Post-Gazette, the ICA had wanted the city to use this JD Edwards enterprise-resource system, which also can be used for human resources.
Last fall, the city hired Independent Catalyst, a local IT firm to do the technical review of the payroll system. The cost for that was $24,600. The firm suggested Pittsburgh proceed with the JD Edwards system.
Ashbaugh told the ICA they hope to have this system in place by Jan. 1, 2016.
