Altoona adds OpenGov Payroll to its ERP platform

The City of Altoona, Pennsylvania, has expanded its OpenGov ERP with Payroll, becoming the first OpenGov Payroll adoption in the state. The move is aimed at streamlining a complex union-heavy payroll operation for about 250 employees while unifying finance, assets, procurement and people data.

Why it matters: - Altoona is moving payroll into the same system as finance, assets, procurement and revenue, which should reduce fragmentation across core city operations. - The change is especially important for a payroll environment that must support multiple union contracts, retirees and pension-related tracking. - The deployment is the first OpenGov Payroll adoption in Pennsylvania, a notable marker for the vendor’s state presence.

What happened: - The City of Altoona added OpenGov Payroll to its existing OpenGov platform on October 14, 2026. - The city already used OpenGov for Enterprise Asset Management, Financial Management, Procurement & Contract Management and Tax & Revenue Collection. - Altoona operates in Blair County, Pennsylvania, and serves about 44,000 residents. - The city supports payroll for roughly 250 employees across five collective bargaining agreements, including police and fire personnel.

The details: - Altoona’s payroll administration spans multiple systems and timekeeping methods tied to union compliance and pension administration. - The city paused a previous payroll implementation after running into problems with that vendor. - Altoona evaluated its needs through working sessions and product demonstrations before selecting OpenGov Payroll. - OpenGov Payroll was chosen for its flexibility, intuitive design and government-specific payroll logic. - The system is designed to mirror existing workflows instead of forcing standardization. - For Altoona, that means handling five distinct collective bargaining agreements and tracking pensions and retiree benefits with more visibility and control. - The integrated ERP environment gives Altoona a single platform for financial, asset, procurement and people operations. - The city expects that setup to improve data integrity by reducing disconnected systems. - Chris McGuire, Altoona city manager, said the city needed a payroll partner that understands the complexity of its union environment and provides hands-on support.

Between the lines: - Altoona’s decision suggests a preference for configurable public-sector software over rigid legacy tools. - The city’s focus on union rules, retiree benefits and pension administration points to payroll as an operational risk area, not just an administrative one. - The reference to other Pennsylvania municipalities moving toward integrated systems signals broader momentum away from modular accounting setups.

What's next: - Altoona will continue using OpenGov across its broader ERP environment with payroll now included. - The city will likely focus on rollout, workflow alignment and long-term data consistency as the integrated platform is used in day-to-day operations. - OpenGov’s Pennsylvania footprint may grow if other municipalities follow Altoona’s lead.

The bottom line: - Altoona is betting that a single, integrated government ERP can handle complex public payroll better than a patchwork of separate systems.