LEWISTON – The number of city employees injured on the job continued to decrease in 2004, as the city managed to beat its own mid-year cost estimates.
The city paid $101,127 in workers compensation claims in 2004 for 63 injuries. That’s half of what it paid in 2003 and $61,000 less than it estimated it would pay in 2004.
“It’s fair to say the injuries we did pay were pretty minor,” said Human Resources Director Denis Jean. None of the injury claims were for employees who were off the job for more than seven days.
“Besides, $101,000 doesn’t go very far when you consider medical prices these days,” Jean said. “One MRI, at $1,500 a pop, and there goes your budget. So, since this is $101,000 for lost time and medical, that’s not a lot.”
The 2004 numbers are the lowest costs for paid claims in several years. The city paid $1.37 million in claims for 131 injuries in 2001 – about $3,471 per city employee.
The 2004 claims work out to about $250 per employee.
Jean gave most of the credit to an employee incentive program that began in 2002. For each month a department goes without a serious injury, employees get gift certificates. If the department goes a full year, every employee gets a $100 certificate to a local restaurant.
All city employees received $100 gift certificates last year, under the program. Police officers received theirs in November, and all other city employees received certificates in July.
“If you had talked to me two years ago, I couldn’t have imagined being where we are so quickly,” Jean said. “To go from a million to $100,000 in such a short time is just mind-boggling.”
The incentive program cost the city between $50,000 and $55,000 in 2004, Jean said.
The number and cost of claims has been going down steadily since the program began. By 2002, the cost had decreased to $382,000. By 2003, it had decreased to $209,000. Last July, Jean estimated the city would end up paying $163,000 for 2004.
The change could save the city more money this year. A July 2004 insurance risk study said the city could end up paying $3.5 million in workers compensation claims. That amount is based on the high claims the city paid between 1997 and 2001 and doesn’t reflect the new costs.
“Those numbers don’t come down as fast as we’d like,” said Lewiston Finance Director Dick Metivier. “It really looks at the last three years, so they’re still picking up that $1.4 million in 2001. Once that goes off, it should be a lot closer to reality.”
The city has budgeted about $506,790 to pay those claims. Councilors are expected to increase that budget by $1.4 million at their Feb. 8 meeting.
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