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Q&A

Potential integration of city government payroll with MyCity

1:22:36

·

174 sec

Council Member Gutiérrez inquires about the possibility of incorporating city government payroll into the MyCity platform. Commissioner Fraser discusses the potential benefits and considerations of such an integration.

Fraser confirms that integrating city government payroll is being evaluated as a use case for MyCity
He highlights the potential to assist unbanked or underbanked city employees and reduce reliance on predatory financial institutions
Fraser emphasizes that any changes affecting city workforce at scale would involve coordination with the Office of Labor Relations
The administration is considering how to enhance the quality of life for city employees through such initiatives

Jennifer Gutiérrez

1:22:36

Okay.

1:22:36

And then Excellent.

1:22:45

Question just about city government and direct deposits with a cyber wallet.

1:22:50

Is that something that you're looking to do?

1:22:54

I think it was referenced in maybe a hearing that we had last year where you testified about centralizing benefits on a single digital platform, and that would that could include replacing traditional city government payroll to direct deposits with a cyber wallet.

1:23:12

Is that this?

Matthew Fraser

1:23:13

Yeah.

1:23:13

So that this is one of the things that we're evaluating as a use case for this.

1:23:17

Unfortunately, in today's society, there's still a significant portion that's unbut that represents the unbanked or under bank community, and that includes some of the members of the Citi workforce.

1:23:28

We have predatory institutions like check cashing establishments that take portions of Citi taxpayer, Citi employee pay to to provide them access to to cash.

1:23:40

And if we can provide a service that reduces the dependency on those types of businesses and provides the capability for them getting real time access to the money that they need, is something that we have, you know, a responsibility of doing, and that that's part of what we're evaluating.

1:23:55

And one of the things that I I'd say it's it's part of this administration's approach is it's not just focused on how it can make public, the public good better.

1:24:05

It's also how can we so part of the public good is also the city employee good.

1:24:11

And what can we do to enhance the quality of life for those that work as a part of the city that find themselves and some of the same population that we're trying to serve.

Jennifer Gutiérrez

1:24:18

You have a sense and as part of your evaluation, do you have a sense of how much of the city's workforce is engaged in the direct deposit versus, you know, paper check conversion?

Matthew Fraser

1:24:30

So we we can confer with our colleagues at Pfizer OPA and get that information, and then we can bring that back to counsel.

Jennifer Gutiérrez

1:24:36

And have you also, as part of your evaluation, have you been in contact with d c 37, for example, about the potential and and kind of how you are all thinking about cyber wallets and and payment?

Matthew Fraser

1:24:46

So any of the benefits that we look at bringing forward that impacts the city's workforce at scale.

1:24:52

We work in collaboration with the office of labor relations.

1:24:56

And that team coordinates communication between us and any of the unions that may impact by those services.

1:25:03

When this when it gets more material or we're in the space where we're looking to collect sentiment or feedback, we'd work directly with OLR to get that information as we've had on a number of other fronts.

Jennifer Gutiérrez

1:25:13

So so you so you have spoken to the author to OLR about Yes.

1:25:18

Select evaluation.

1:25:19

Okay.

1:25:20

So

Matthew Fraser

1:25:20

as part of the evaluation process, the intent is to ensure that we collect feedback from the unions to ensure that as we bring services forward, we're serving their constituents as well.

Jennifer Gutiérrez

1:25:30

Okay.

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Timeline for digital wallet announcements and comparison to other programs

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Data collection and potential uses through MyCity digital wallets