ACC faces higher premiums

Loren Korte, owner of Personal Service Insurance, came before the Allen Community College board Tuesday night to discuss the college’s insurance renewal — not all of it was good news.
According to Korte, the policy remains similar to last year’s, except for the property and worker’s compensation insurance. Their premiums have significantly increased.
“Property insurance across the board has taken some huge increases,” he said.
He attributed the rise in cost to repair materials and labor, as well as ACC’s location in a tornado-prone area. He mentioned Joplin, Mo., and El Reno, Okla., (both of which have experienced severe tornadoes recently) as driving up costs for premiums.
Costs can be reduced for property insurance, but not without some risk.
“A higher deductible is one way to cut some cost,” Korte said. Raising the deductible from $2,500 to $5,000 could leave the college open for losses if its campus were hit by heavy storms. But, he said there have been only two claims, both at around $3,500, since 2010. In his mind, the risk is worth it.
Now, in regard to worker’s compensation insurance, there is “no good answer.”
“That’s really where the premium has seen some issues,” Korte said. 

The National Council on Compensation Insurance gives entities ratings on what their premium cost should be, which insurance companies use as a resource; a “1” is 100 percent cost. Last year, ACC’s was 1.15, or 15 percent above the base. This year, their rating has jumped to 1.53, or 53 percent above base.
ACC’s premium rates for the 2013-2014 school year have jumped from $51,900 to $76,100.
“You are not alone,” Korte said.
He said organizations and businesses across the board are dealing with higher premiums for worker’s compensation, and ACC is no different. Many businesses he represents see it as their largest insurance cost.
He said there are few options to avoid paying the premium. First, outsourcing work through different companies for services such as maintenance could be an option. Any employee on the payroll must be covered, therefore, an employee who is paid by their company, not ACC, would have their insurance paid. The food service employee’s worker’s compensation is paid in this way.
The only other real option is for the employee to be off of the payroll.
“Some other entities have taken some steps to retire some folks,” Korte said.
The board held any decision for insurance renewal, pending discussions on cost for the next year.

JON MARSHALL, vice president for academic affairs, took the time to recognize Christina Sewell for winning the Blackboard Award for Exemplary Course Design.
Blackboard, an international organization, serves as the course shell provider for ACC’s online courses. The award included “hundreds” of other entries from across the world, who designed courses for their academic organization. Sewell’s design, for Introduction to Literature, was one of the 30 selected.
She has been an instructor with ACC for 11 years, and her template is now the base design for all of the college’s online courses.

IN OTHER business:
— Board members approved a motion to donate $200 worth of used softball equipment to the Iola Recreation Department.
— The 2013-2014 budget for ACC will be published in The Iola Register.
— The board voted to change monthly meetings to the second Tuesday of each month.
— The board of trustees will retain their positions as follows: Neal Barclay, chairman, Harvey Rogers, vice-chairman, Jenny Spillman, treasurer, Spencer Ambler, secretary, Larry Manes, KACCT representative, Steve Troxel, board clerk, and Robert Johnson II, board attorney.
— Following an executive session, the board: accepted the resignation of Steve Donahoe, who had originally accepted the men’s assistant basketball position; hired Ryan Mahoney as the men’s basketball assistant coach and director of Horton Hall; hired Tonya Carlson as a biology instructor for the Burlingame campus; hired Lauren Nicholas as the assistant softball coach and director of Masterson Hall; hired Christy Cutshaw as a computer science instructor.