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City outlines risk‑management spike; managers propose broader safety program
Summary
City officials told the Audit & Finance Committee premiums for workers' compensation and other insurance have risen sharply; staff recommended expanding citywide risk‑management capacity and embedding safety functions beyond utility departments to reduce claims and insurance costs.
The City Manager and finance staff told the Audit & Finance Committee that the city has experienced a marked increase in workers' compensation and liability costs and outlined plans to broaden risk‑management work across the organization.
City leadership said excess workers’ compensation premiums rose about 190% since February 2016 and noted a jump in liability claims between fiscal 2019 and 2020 that the city attributed to an accelerated trend across several departments. The manager contrasted those increases with smaller claim growth in the power and light utility, which has a dedicated safety coordinator, saying the difference suggests daily, embedded safety work matters.
Staff described an amendment to the proposed budget (introduced by Councilmember Fears and already adopted in the budget cycle) that would embed funding to expand risk‑management and safety coordination into a central finance function. The manager said the goal is to make safety and risk‑management a citywide mindset rather than isolated to individual departments, while maintaining utility‑specific safety functions.
The finance director described a recent Missouri Municipal League webinar and insurer feedback noting broader industry factors driving premium increases, including large industry losses in 2022–23, more frequent high jury awards in liability cases, supply‑chain and repair cost inflation for auto and property claims, and cybersecurity exposure. The director said some mitigation steps include strengthening safety policies and training, conducting and documenting infrastructure inspections and repairs, adopting stronger contract risk‑transfer language and ensuring multifactor authentication for cybersecurity protection.
Staff said consulting support will return to the council in a future meeting to review workers' compensation structure and self‑insured retention levels for certain employee groups; insurance renewals covering property, liability and workers' compensation will be brought forward for council review on the June 16 meeting agenda. The manager proposed keeping two dedicated safety coordinator positions (one in Power & Light and one in Municipal Services) while expanding centralized oversight and training.
