Special Board of Aldermen 10-25-2021 Page 3
Chairman Dowd
We have a question from Alderman Lopez
Alderman Lopez
Yeah and just for the record, |am alone. I’m in my office on Exit 1 and | just couldn’t get transportation back to the
Special Board without holding everybody up.
So my question is Ms. Kleiner had mentioned that we typically put funding into this budget bi-annually but this
particular year we went into a deficit. It sounds like over two-thirds of it you’ve already kind of pulled out of and we’re
looking for ways to do this in a more healthy manner. | want to understand the predictability of this situation. Is this
like a fall out from 2020 and we don’t want to account for it in our regular planning? Like there’s an ongoing global
disaster which the likelihood we’ve never seen. So you wouldn’t plan business as usual during that or is this
something maybe attributable to growth or changes in deficits? Is this something we should adjust for like maybe try
to review it every quarter instead of bi-annually?
Kim Kleiner, Administrative Services Director
Yes. So I'll just go back. The Board of Aldermen approves the amount that is transferred from the General Fund into
the Property & Casualty Fund. So for Fiscal 2022, you approved $4.2 million. That gets transferred. It’s been
practiced that that is transferred in two installments: one in July and one in January. That is just the practice of the
City. | would assume cash flow and other reasons but we do not think that this is a serious problem. We’re certainly
not raising any red flags. You see these types of trends go up and down. So back in 2018 for instance, you had one
year that you had an IBNR of $600,000 rise and then the next year it went down over $600,000. This is quite
common. This goes with the fluctuation of claims.
Our claims have remained fairly stable. So we don’t see this as a reason to adjust how we are being fiscally
responsible or how we are doing things. The Risk Department, our adjusters do an amazing job. They handle these
claims and they’re very well versed in what they need to do, how they need to book these reserves, as well as what to
expect a case to take the life of.
Chairman Dowd
Any other questions from the Aldermen?
Alderman Jette
Thank you Mr. Chairman. So | know that worker’s compensation is a system. It’s a no-fault system. So the fact that
we have these unusually large claims that the Mayor referred to doesn’t mean that the city violated some duty towards
the worker and it doesn’t mean that the worker did something wrong. | don’t know any of the details but these worker
comp. claims are just accidents that happen. If they are work related that they happen on the job or related to the job,
then the system provides for compensation to the worker. | want to hear from you some reassurance that this does
not reflect on any lack of worker safety on the part of the city, and that there’s nothing that the city is neglecting as far
as our workers are concerned, and that these claims just happen and doesn’t necessarily mean they’re going to
happen or going to happen in the future. Can you reassure me about that?
Kim Kleiner, Administrative Services Director
I'd like to ask Ms. Deshaies to speak to that.
Jennifer Deshaies, Risk Manager
These three cases are not the fault of, as you said, the employee or the city. They’re not safety concerns either. Two
of them were from firemen fighting fires and the third one was a motor vehicle accident in which the third party was at
fault.
Alderman Jette
Okay thank you.
