Westmoreland officials approve insurance contract over controller's objections

A $1.69 million insurance policy covering workers compensation claims filed by Westmoreland County government employees was extended another year over the objections of one county commissioner and the county's financial watchdog.

Commissioners Gina Cerilli and Charles Anderson on Thursday approved the one-year contract with Housing and Redevelopment Insurance Exchange, a nonprofit consortium of housing authorities in Pennsylvania, to provide the insurance.

Commissioner Ted Kopas cast the lone vote against the contract, saying he did not have enough evidence that the deal will save taxpayers money.

The contract mirrors the deal Cerilli and Anderson approved last year, which they contend has resulted in savings and assurances that new workers compensation claims will not drain the county's budget.

“Being fully insured is in the best interest of the county. We are not in position to gamble with taxpayers' money,” Cerilli said.

Before last year the county was self-insured for workers comp claims, meaning it was on the hook for all money paid out to every claim filed by employees who were hurt on the job. The insurance contract will cap the county's payment for all new claims.

Controller Jeffrey Balzer lobbied commissioners to reject the insurance deal, saying it was too costly and accusing Cerilli of approving the contract as a favor for the company's president, who was a major contributor to her 2015 campaign for county commissioner.

According to campaign finance reports on file in the county's elections bureau, Charles Volpe, the company's president, donated $18,000 to Cerilli's campaign.

“I ask Commissioner Cerilli to recuse herself from this vote,” Balzer said.

The county paid out about $1.4 million in workers compensation claims in 2016.

Payments skyrocketed last year, the first year of the county's contract with its insurance carrier. Balzer said more than $2.7 million in workers compensation benefits and insurance premiums were paid in 2017.

Cerilli denied she has a conflict of interest and said the deal was good for taxpayers.

She said the company settled more than 10 old workers compensation claims, including at least one that originated in the 1980s. Settlement of those old cases, which were not covered by the new insurance policy, cost about $850,000.

Several dozen more old cases remain on the books and could be settled this year, commissioners said.

“The goal is to clear out all of these cases,” Anderson said.

Kopas said he asked for but has not received an independent analysis of how the workers compensation insurance deal is saving money.

“I've yet to see any evidence that this is working as described,” Kopas said.

Rich Cholodofsky is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at 724-830-6293 or rcholodofsky@tribweb.com.