By Brian Shane

Staff Writer

A rising trend of costly car crashes in Worcester County-owned vehicles has prompted officials to upgrade their auto insurance policy to include comprehensive and collision coverage.

Without this coverage, the county bears the full financial burden of repairing or replacing vehicles damaged by accidents, weather events, or deer strikes, according to Human Resources Director Stacey Norton.

“This out-of-pocket expense can be substantial as we have seen with recent vehicles that were totaled,” she wrote in a Feb. 9 internal memo. “Due to our trend of accidents, spending the extra money on the additional coverage will offset the costs of repairing and/or replacing vehicles.”

In the last five fiscal years, insurance claims for county vehicles have been rising: there were 10 in 2021, 13 in 2021, 17 in 2022, 19 in 2023, and 27 last year, according to data provided by Norton. From 2021 to 2024, the county’s vehicle insurance claims spiked 170%.

Those wrecks have cost the county between $71,000 to $88,000 a year in premiums. And, being self-insured, it means the county must pay for its own claims unless there is another involved party who pays.

One memorable incident from last summer saw a Roads Division truck on a stone delivery slip off a narrow roadway into a soft shoulder. It cost $260,000 to replace that vehicle, Norton said, which also doubled as a winter snowplow.

For the 2025 fiscal year, which started July 1, there have been 16 vehicle claims: 3 deer strikes, 2 times where debris damaged a vehicle, 2 times where a vehicle struck a fixed object, 2 times striking another vehicle, and 7 times where another car struck a county vehicle.

Adding collision to their policy will cover accidents, regardless of fault. Comprehensive coverage is for non-collision events like theft, vandalism, or natural disasters, Norton said.

With comprehensive collision insurance, the county pays the deductible, which ends up being less costly than replacing a totaled vehicle. In this year alone, the county has spent about $88,000 on policy premiums, $61,000 on repairs, and $84,000 in vehicle replacement costs.

The department with the most crashes so far this year has been the Worcester County Sheriff’s Office, with 8 total. Most have been deer strikes, and none have been the fault of the deputy behind the wheel, officials said.

Overall, this long look at insurance upgrades started last fall, prompted by serious wreck: a sheriff’s deputy traveling on Racetrack Road on was struck head-on by a panel van on Nov. 8

Nobody was hurt and the deputy was not at fault, but it cost a lot to replace the mangled SUV. Insurance only covered the $50,000 vehicle replacement cost – but not the extra $25,000 for the police package of lights, sirens, and radio upgrades, which the county had to pay for.

Another accident happened after a sheriff’s SUV hit a deer, causing about $25,000 in damage. With just liability coverage, the county had to pay every cent out of pocket for repairs.

Those financial losses led to a conversation about a new insurance policy, according to sheriff’s deputy Lt. Chris Larmore. He said the new coverage will allow the sheriff’s office to start budgeting for the inevitable cost of car repairs.

“Now all we pay is the deductible,” he said. “In the long run, this is going to save the county a lot of money.”

Notably, five out of 10 brand-new sheriff’s vehicles purchased in 2023 have been involved in collisions. The sheriff’s office has about 100 total vehicles in its fleet. Agency wide, sheriff’s deputies put on about two million miles worth of patrolling annually, in and out of state, according to Sheriff Matt Crisafulli.

“When you’re on the road that much, of course you’re greatly increasing the changes for collision and deer strikes. We’re fortunate that we haven’t had any major crashes with injury or losing someone,” he said.

The County Commissioners approved the coverage upgrade at their Feb. 18 meeting. It will cost an estimated $46,148 in additional policy premiums for this fiscal year and another $136,450 in fiscal 2026, according to Norton. The county’s insurance provider is the nonprofit Local Government Insurance Trust, or LGIT.