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With news of yet another payroll glitch at TUSD, the governing board Tuesday night urged staff to quickly put an end to the embarrassing accounting errors that have plagued the district.

"This is beyond frustrating," said board member Bruce Burke, comparing the problems to the movie "Groundhog Day" — only without an end.

Even so, district leaders are warning that more could loom on the horizon.

The latest problem involved about 40 blue-collar employees who had been receiving pay differentials of 55 cents more per hour for working swing or midnight shifts. While seven were underpaid, about 30 were overpaid, at least one by as much as $9,000.

The district's finance staff did not yet have a total dollar amount but indicated some of the overpayments date to July 2001.

The news follows last week's announcement that hundreds of teachers will see smaller paychecks in December after it was discovered the district had incorrectly calculated their tax withholdings.

Those missteps followed earlier, higher-profile ones that called into question the district's financial management.

In 2007, it was brought to the governing board's attention that thousands of employees received three months of health insurance for free at a cost of more than $700,000 to the district. District officials asked employees to pay for the coverage they received.

That same year, administrators discovered that not enough tax money was being withheld for about 2,180 employees.

Then, in January of this year, about 300 employees had their paychecks docked to recoup money from a $140,000, one-time accounting error on raises and retroactive pay. In that case, the pay was entered manually in a computer spreadsheet that didn't specify an end date in the programming.

Superintendent Elizabeth Celania-Fagen said the ongoing problems underscore the district's need to upgrade its fragmented and aging technology system, which relies heavily on manual paperwork.

Brenda Lambach, a union representative for the blue-collar employees, said she is still in the early stages of working with the district to discuss a fair resolution.

"The (computer) system is antiquated, so they need to do something about it. But that costs money and there is no money."

The district has estimated it will cost between $5 million and $8 million to upgrade the existing software, although its staff is exploring options that could include replacing it altogether with a new program.

The district has already set aside $1 million to start the process, but has yet to identify where the remainder of the money will come from.

Fagen said while she is sorry for any inconvenience to the employees, she predicted more errors and problems will continue cropping up until the necessary upgrades occur.

"It is likely to get worse before it gets better," she warned, adding the district's staff is turning the system "inside out" to catch problems.

Alex Rodriguez, the outgoing board president, noted that the district's request for more money from taxpayers failed in the Nov. 4 election with 49 percent of the vote to 51 percent against.

Rodriguez surmised that the "financial bleeding" might have made the difference in that 2,000-vote margin.

On Friday the district will be soliciting bids to replace or upgrade its existing technology system.