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Pismo Beach hears 2025 risk-management report; JPIA cites 90% drop in workers' comp severity, one major liability reserve
Summary
City staff and the California JPIA presented the 2025 risk-management report. JPIA reported 17 workers' compensation claims in 2025 with a roughly 90% reduction in severity from 2024, and said one high-reserve liability case is driving an outlier in total liability costs.
The Pismo Beach City Council received the city's 2025 risk-management annual report on Feb. 17, presented by HR officer Bianca Buchanan and Tim Kars of the California Joint Powers Insurance Authority (JPIA). The presentation outlined program participation, recent claims experience and training initiatives aimed at reducing employee injuries and third-party liability.
Tim Kars, identified as the JPIA risk manager for San Luis Obispo County members, said the city participated in three core JPIA programs (workers' compensation, property insurance and general liability) plus ancillary coverages such as crime, cyber and pollution insurance. He said the pool purchases excess coverage on the liability side "up to $50,000,000 per occurrence."
Kars compared 2024 and 2025 workers' compensation experience: he said 2024 recorded 14 claims with total severity of about $197,000 and 2025 saw 17 claims but "a 90% reduction in severity," attributing the change to claim types and the city's ability to accommodate return-to-work scenarios. He emphasized that JPIA focuses on claim severity (cost), not frequency.
The presentation detailed training and prevention efforts: Kars said there were about 288 individual employee trainings and 276 in-person trainings in Pismo Beach in 2025, and highlighted new functional-mobility and mental-wellness programs for public-safety staff intended to reduce cumulative soft-tissue injuries.
On third-party liability, Kars said roughly 70% of the city's claims relate to streets, roads and related infrastructure, with slips, trips and falls the most common types of claims for Pismo Beach. He outlined an ADA self-evaluation in progress with an outside consultant (Disability Access Consultants) and reported that "60% of the facilities, parks and trails are complete" and "95% of sidewalks are complete," with policy and program access under review.
Kars also described an outlier liability year driven by a single high-severity claim currently reserved and in litigation; he said reserves for open claims are included in the five-year experience used to calculate the city's annual contribution to the JPIA. Council members pressed for clarification on how reserves feed into premiums and how the JPIA calculates the annual contribution; Kars and city staff described a calculation based primarily on five-year loss experience and payroll, with police payroll handled separately.
Council members asked whether vehicle collisions or slips-and-falls were more consequential; Kars responded that vehicle claims tend to be costlier across the JPIA pool but that for Pismo Beach the most common third-party claims are currently slips and trips. When asked whether the JPIA would assist with risk analysis ahead of taking over Highway 1, Kars said JPIA would participate as requested and could provide risk identification and recommendations.
The council took no formal action on the report; staff treated the presentation as informational.
