MOUNT VERNON — Knox County Safety and Loss Control Director Emily Marth told the Knox County Commissioners on Thursday that due to the traffic accident that killed a highway worker near Gambier last year, the county will no longer get the group discount offered for Workers’ Compensation insurance under a program through the County Commissioners Association of Ohio.
Although it will no longer be able to take advantage of the discount of the County Risk-Sharing Authority (CORSA), Marth said they have been invited to participate in RETRO, which includes counties in the same situation as Knox. Under that program, the county pays the full premium for Workers’ Compensation insurance, but if the county meets a set of criteria at the end of the year, it can get a rebate.
Marth told the commissioners the county will take a hit of about $8,000 or $9,000 for the insurance.
Although the accident which killed employee Damon Simon was not his fault, Marth said, it happened while he was working and so the payment of benefits to his widow are charged against the county policy and will reflect on the county’s rates for five years.
Marth was giving the commissioners a regular update on the county’s Workers’ Compensation and liability insurance coverage.
