Village and town leave county compensation fund Jan. 1

Warwick — The Village and Town of Warwick are pulling out of the Orange County Self-Insured Worker’s Compensation Plan. The Village Board agreed on Monday to switch companies, something the town also planned to do at its meeting Thursday night. The town is saving a minimum of $180,000 by switching to the New York State Municipal Workers’ Compensation Alliance Plan on Jan. 1, 2008. The village will save more than $27,000 in 2008 by switching to Comp Alliance. The estimate from the county for 2008 was $90,117. Instead, for the same time period, the village will pay $62,789 for its workers’ comp insurance with Comp Alliance. In 2007, the Village of Warwick paid $82,000 to Orange County for the coverage. “We were trying to figure out why it has gone up so much,” said Supervisor Mike Sweeton who addressed the Village Board Monday night. When Sweeton took office in 2002, the town was paying $170,000 for its worker’s compensation insurance. In 2008, that cost would have risen to $895,000. The new plan’s premiums have risen less than 10 percent per year. “The county said an under-funding of the pool caused the jumps in premiums,” Sweeton said. But, he added, the county never aggressively argued the claims. “It’s just a broken program.” In another cost-saving measure, the village has signed on with M&R Energy Resources Corporation to supply natural gas to the village for a rate of 6.5 cents below the Orange & Rockland rate. Chances are “very good,” according to Trustee Roger Metzger, that the savings will exceed the 6.5 cents per 100 cubic feet, but not guaranteed. Sweeton said he was made aware of the fluctuations in energy costs both by his own personal business and that of the town. He locked in for natural gas with M&R for the town last year and saved 20 cents per 100 cubic feet over Orange & Rockland. The village’s contract with M&R is from Jan. 1 to May 31, 2008.