Update: Direct Deposit Error Has Employees Paying Utica?

Utica, NY (WIBX) - Some city of Utica employees who have direct deposit got a bit of surprise when they checked their bank accounts today.

Instead of their pay being deposited into their accounts, the pay amount was actually deducted, according to some city employees.

City Comptroller Michael Cerminaro released this statement this afternoon:

"This morning our office was made aware of a problem that affected City of Utica employees who utilize the Direct Deposit system for payroll purposes.

It has been determined that Direct Deposit employee accounts were Debited instead of Credited the proper amount.

The banking facility that handles our city’s payroll account has issued an immediate “Research Request” to try and determine why this problem occurred.

Our office has been in contact throughout the morning with banking and financial institutions that are part of the Direct Deposit network to help resolve this issue so that all accounts are immediately made whole and all fees incurred will be refunded promptly."

The city's Payroll Clerk, Rhonda Starer, says the hope is that eveyone's deposit will show up in their account by the end of the day.

It's unknown what caused the glitch or how many city employees were affected.