County liability insurance premium to skyrocket $187,000; fiscal court hashes out road paving

After five years, Whitley County’s insurance rate are increasing by $187,000.

The cost of the All Lines Fund, which covers liability, auto and property, will have an annual premium of $492,399.

In explaining the increase, Joe Greathouse with the Kentucky Association of Counties noted the frequency and severity of claims filed over the last three-and-a-half years. In that time, Whitley County has filed 74 claims totaling $1.6 million.

Those claims include the settlements of several lawsuits.

In April, a lawsuit over the death of Bobby Aaron Hubbard’s while he was held at the Whitley County Detention Center in 2010 was settled for $90,000.

In December, Delbert Bray settled a police brutality claim against Whitley County and three sheriff’s deputies for $140,000.

In 2010, a lawsuit filed by Dalton Christopher Brewer, who claimed he was pistol-whipped by former Corbin Police Officer and one-time Whitley County Sheriff’s Deputy Tony Ramey was settled for an undisclosed sum.

The other part of the equation is workman’s compensation insurance, which will cost $331,181, annually.

Greathouse noted the county has filed 76 worker’s compensation claims, totaling $590,000.

Greathouse also provided several options involving raising deductibles. By taking all of the options, Whitley County Treasurer Jeff Gray told the magistrates, the county could save $32,324, annually.

Those options included:

¥ Raising auto liability from $0 to $1,000, which would save $6,534

¥ Raising auto physical damage from $500 to $2,500, which would save $10,298.

¥ Raising law enforcement from $1,000 to $5,000, which would save $7,440

In addition, the county would save an additional $8,052 through a premium credit if the magistrates elected to raise the property deductible to $2,500.

Gray noted that the magistrates may approve all, some or none of the options and they are not bound to keep the policy for its entire duration. It is set to expire in at the end of the 2014-15 fiscal year.

At the request of Magistrate Jamie Fuson, the fiscal court approved the policy and will review the options. At the July meeting, the magistrates will revisit the issue and decide which, if any of the options they would like to accept.

Road paving debate

The magistrates and Judge White entered into a lengthy debate over the manner in which the roads that made the paving list were selected and explained they wanted more input.

Magistrate Robbie Brown noted that he recently received a phone call from a friend in his district to thank Brown for getting his road paved.

Brown explained that he was surprised by the phone call as he was not aware the road was on the list.

White responded that he had asked the magistrates to each submit a list of roads in their district that needed to be repaved during the March meeting, but only received a list from First District Magistrate Roger Wells.

Brown and Fuson both said they did not recall the list.

However, Fuson said he had turned in a list for the last two years and was thinking the list should just roll over from year to year.

White noted that the two roads at the top of that list, Mud Creek and Skaggs Branch have on-going water projects. Because that involves excavating the roadway they were not on the list.

"However the next three roads on Fuson’s list are on the list for the next round of paving work in the fall.

Brown made a motion that anytime there are paving projects involving state and/or local funds, the magistrates vote on it in open court.

White replied that the decision on which roads to pave was time sensitive and it was nearing the end of the fiscal year and there was grant money for paving that had to be used or lost.

Fuson seconded the motion and the court voted, 5-0 to approve.

In addition, the magistrates each agreed to compile a list of roads in their respective districts that needing repaving. They asked White to do the same for roads across the county. They will use those lists to keep and up-to-date list of roads that in the most need of blacktop.