Wallingford mayor digitizing town hall’s billing system

WALLINGFORD, Conn. (WTNH) — Wallingford Town Hall employees are doing a lot of paper-pushing because personnel are still punching paper timecards. 

“It’s old school,” said Suzanne Corarito, who works in the town tax department.  

“Sometimes the machine doesn’t quite read the previous punch, and it doesn’t know where to punch,” said Brian Naples, who works in the town finance department. “So, [the machine] will jump down below, up above, print right on top of something else.”  

Wallingford’s new mayor Vinny Cervoni was sworn into office on Jan. 8.  

He says the departments located inside the town hall are using the time-consuming system. 

“Somebody has to go through line-by-line, card-by-card, and manually enter all of the information,” Cervoni said. 

Cervoni says updating the tech in town is high on the to-do list after his predecessor held the mayoral job for about four decades. 

“It was the previous administration’s policy to not fix what it didn’t perceive to be not broken,” he said.  

Besides having to punch in and out, town employees tell News 8 that they’re frustrated because they’re forced to receive paper checks.  

The majority of town employees cannot receive direct deposit. 

“You have to take the check to the bank or do it on your phone,” Corarito said. “[The paycheck] should just be on in your checking account.” 

Corarito says she’s dealing without direct deposit, as we as another issue — residents having trouble with paying their bills online.   

“They come in every day, and they ask, ‘when are we going online? When can I pay my bill online?’” Corarito said. 

Cervoni says people can pay some bills online, but the older internet system is “clunky” and not user-friendly. That forces some folks to drop their payments off at town hall. 

“Traditions are great, but I think new-age technology makes things easier and more convenient for people,” said Amanda Finn of Wallingford. 

“I don’t mind dropping it off, but if there was an option to do it electronically, that would be nice,” said Anne Parisi, another Wallingford resident. 

Cervoni says he hopes to complete a town-wide tech assessment to create a more efficient process, but employees and residents who prefer the old process will still have the option.