Payroll Specialist

About the City 

The City of Ann Arbor, located in Southeast Michigan, within Washtenaw County and near to Detroit, is well-known for its vibrancy, high technology business community, social activism and is the home to the University of Michigan. The City is consistently featured by various media outlets on their “best places to live” lists. It is a community-oriented, progressive city that provides exceptional city services, and has a socially conscious Council that is innovative, creative, and responsive to new ideas that can benefit its residents.  

The population of Ann Arbor is approximately 120,000 individuals and covers around 28 square miles with a variety of residential developments, diverse retail and commercial businesses including multiple headquarter locations and the University of Michigan academic and athletic campuses.   

Ann Arbor provides its residents with excellent schools, a wide range of community amenities, a relatively stable employer base, and cultural and athletic attractions that are nationally recognized. The community is known for strong civic and community engagement and is viewed as progressive/liberal.   

The City has recently prioritized climate action, affordable housing, inclusion and other progressive values. 

About the Role 

This position reports to the Payroll Supervisor.  

The Payroll Specialist is responsible for all facets of processing payroll for 1000 employees on a biweekly basis including system administration, pay and taxation adjustments, retro pay calculations, administration of specialty pay for union contracts, handling all customer service needs and answering questions, all tax filings, all pay disbursements, employee banking for direct deposit, and general ledger accounting for payroll. 

Key Responsibilities Include: 

• Working with all timekeepers and managers from every department to ensure time is entered accurately and by the deadline so all employees are paid. 
• Processing payroll interpreting and incorporating information from managers, supervisors, HR, and employees. 
• Daily application of knowledge of union contracts, personnel rules, payroll tax law and State of Michigan law governing withholding and unemployment taxes.  
• Interpretation and application of garnishments, levies, and other legal judgements related to the pay of employees.  
• Working with the Payroll Supervisor to troubleshoot issues that may delay payroll and timely payment of the employees. 
• Filing of payroll taxes timely on behalf of the city ensuring compliance with the IRS and the State of Michigan.  
• Resolve all issues related to payroll, including union and non-union concerns understanding past practices and appropriately involving management and the City Attorney’s office as needed. 
• Preparing the annual payroll calendar and submit to the City Administrator. 
• In conjunction with the Payroll Supervisor, understanding the set up and troubleshooting two complex systems for payroll and timekeeping as well as annual updates for W-2 reporting, etc. 

About You:

• You have experience in payroll processing for an organization with 300 employees. 
• Experience with payroll concepts such as calculating garnishments, retroactive pay, general ledger pay allocation, project accounting, and shift patterns.  
• Understanding of the Federal, state and local laws and regulations including the Fair Labor Standards Act, IRS rules, deferred compensation, Social Security Administration rules, and the State of Michigan unemployment tax and withholding laws.  
• Experience calculating and processing garnishments. 
• Proven experience with complex time and attendance and payroll software systems.

Why work for us? 

• Benefits offered for this opportunity: Non-Union Benefits Summary 
• This role is expected to be onsite Monday through Friday from 8am-4pm. There is some potential to work remote occasionally. 
• The compensation range for this role is $52,000 - $65,000. The offer will be commensurate with experience. 

Salary : $52,000 - $65,000