The county board of supervisors has spent the last several weeks listening to reports and budget requests in preparation for the fiscal year 2015 budget. The requests were very similar to the current year budget until Joan St Clair of MacDonald Insurance in Scranton presented the estimate for the county’s workers’ compensation insurance. St Clair told the supervisors a firm quote won’t be available until March, but right now, they should brace themselves for a large increase. This year’s premium for workers’ comp insurance is $65,607. Next year’s could be as much as $117,400, a 79 percent increase.
The county participates in the Iowa Communities Assurance Pool for its insurance, with the workers’ comp portion coming through membership in the Iowa Municipalities Workers’ Compensation Association. IMWCA uses nationally set rates but awards discounts based on loss experience, longevity, a large premium, and “good experience.” Those discounts this year added up to about 55 percent.
The difference for the new year comes from calculating in a large workers’ comp claim from December 2012 that impacts how expected losses are figured. County auditor Jane Heun was unable to provide information about that claim. The new workers’ comp rates do not include the discount for low loss experience or the good experience bonus. The only credits included are the longevity and large premium credits.
St Clair estimated the county’s property and liability insurance premium would see little change.
The secondary roads department budget is the only large portion of the budget the supervisors have not yet seen. Engineer Wade Weiss will present his budget at next Monday’s meeting. The FY ’15 budget will be published and a public hearing will be held late next month. The budget must be approved and certified to the state by March 15.
