PARIS – Workers compensation insurance rates have nearly doubled due to accident claims over the last two years, according to town officials.

At a Paris Board of Selectmen meeting Monday, interim Town Manager Elisa Whiteley handed out insurance quotes from W.J. Wheeler & Co. According to the quotes, in 2003 Paris paid $13,525 for workers compensation insurance through USF&G Insurance Co. That rate jumped to $37,100 in 2004, and a quote for 2005 came in at more than $72,000.

“They want their money back,” Selectman Bruce Hanson joked while looking over the numbers. “It’s normal. You’ve had claims, it’s going to go up.”

The forms from Wheeler & Co. stated that losses recorded by USF&G Insurance stood at $47,111 in 2002, $18,303 in 2003 and $7,783 in 2004.

The selectmen voted 5-0 to accept a quote from Wheeler & Co. for insurance through MEMIC. That quote stood at roughly $61,000 on Monday and was expected to be adjusted Tuesday.

On Tuesday, Hanson said some employee injuries have resulted in hospital stays over the past few years. The town is required to provide workers compensation insurance for all full-time employees, he said, including police and fire personnel.

“They’re all risky businesses we’re in,” Hanson said.

Town department heads, he said, are responsible for instituting their own job-safety programs.