City officials hope they will save money on workers compensation and other insurance costs after the Board of Works selected a private insurance carrier Tuesday.
Bliss McKnight, an insurance carrier with clients throughout the state, will provide general liability and employment insurance to the city beginning in 2017.
For years, the city has used the Indiana Public Employers’ Plan for workers compensation and other employment insurance, but hiring Bliss McKnight will be cheaper and provide more coverage, said James Hazzard, an account executive with Samuelson Insurance, the city’s property and casualty insurance agency.
The city’s annual premium will drop from $626,437 with IPEP to $612,701, Hazzard said.
Portage also will get more coverage. IPEP covers up to $700,000 per injury claim, while Bliss McKnight will cover up to $3 million per incident and up to $6 million in total claims per year, Hazzard said.
Ultimately, that means the city will pay less money outside of its annual premium for injuries, he said.
The city has gone with IPEP largely because of the high number of workplace accidents and injuries it used to incur, but automating more services, such as trash collection, and stressing workplace safety has caused the number of incidents to drop, said Mayor James Snyder.
And, that makes it easier for Portage to shop around for more competitive insurance rates, Hazzard said.
“For a long time, the city had too many (injury) claims, and IPEP was the only show we could go to,” he said. “I think this will help the city tremendously.”
The Bliss McKnight contract also provides employment practice liability, or insurance for wrongful termination and similar claims, and employment benefits liability.
The extra coverage will give the city more options in dealing with expensive employment related lawsuits, Hazzard said.
The board also approved a fundraising 5K run next May by the Crisman Elementary School Parent Teacher Organization, contingent on the group getting the go-ahead from the city’s fire and police departments.
Gretchen Schulz, a Crisman teacher, said the PTO fundraiser still is in the planning stages, but the idea is to open the color run to anyone interested. Runners will get a T-shirt in the race and run 3.1 miles throughout the Birdland subdivision and Woodland Park before ending in Crisman, all the while getting peppered with special, powdered dyes.
Michael Gonzalez is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
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