Ringgold, Fort Oglethorpe strike worker’s comp insurance deals
With the a new year on the horizon, the cities of Ringgold and Fort Oglethorpe have struck new deals for their worker’s compensation insurance for employees.
On Monday night, Dec. 10, both municipalities unanimously approved new agreements to take care of their employees if they get injured at work.
Fort Oglethorpe City Manager Jennifer Payne-simpkins explained that her city’s premium is going up a few hundred dollars in 2019.
“The insurance will be in effect from Jan 1, 2019, through Jan 1, 2020,” PayneSimpkins said. “We recommend Bitco Insurance in the amount of $151,968, which is slightly higher than last year’s $151,078. It is a budgeted item.”
Like Fort Oglethorpe, Ringgold City Manager Dan Wright says his staff searched around to find the best coverage at the right price, but that past claims cause a significant hike in quotes for the city.
“We’ve been with Key Risk for some time now and due to the claims, our premiums went from $104,904 in 2018 to (projected) $209,304 for an increase of $104,400, or a 99.5-percent increase,” Wright explained. “Our local agency sought all the other options and there are very few that do public worker’s compensation. In that, they looked at Bitco and others, and several of those declined.”
Ultimately, Wright says the city was able to get a reasonable bid from the Georgia Municipal Association.
“We reached out to GMA and they quoted $138,053,” Wright said. “The city has had an excellent relationship with GMA over the years and we would recommend moving forward with GMA covering our employee’s worker’s comp for 2019.”