The annual cost of the Apache Junction Sewer District’s workers’ compensation insurance is higher than expected because a worker was injured in 2024.
The Apache Junction Sewer District Board on June 24 voted 4-0 to approve the renewal of insurance with CopperPoint Mutual Insurance at a cost of $28,955 annually. Vice Chair Jim Reynolds was absent.
Workers’ compensation insurance is based on a three-year span of time, Brian Wilder of the Marsh McLennan Agency told the board prior to the vote.
“It’s a three-year term going backwards with the current year being (year) three. So what’s affecting this renewal the most is an injury that occurred in 2024. But to the board and to everyone else to point out, it was really a situation that I think was unavoidable, it was just kind of a random act, things that happen in the course of business that led to that loss,” he said.
The 2024 employee injury resulted in surgery and a lengthy recovery period. In addition, an employee was reclassified from the clerical office code to the sewage disposal plant code, which carries a much higher rate for workers’ compensation insurance. These circumstances resulted in an increase to the district’s experience modification rate and its workers’ compensation premiums, it states in a written report from Management Analyst Kathy Huckfeldt.
The district had budgeted $17,290 for fiscal year 2026 workers’ compensation insurance, which was a 12% increase over the prior year quote, it states.
“The budget shortfall will be recovered from savings in other categories of the administrative budget. It should be noted that the monthly disclosure report will show a budget variance each month due to this shortfall,” Huckfeldt states in the report.
The main components of an employer’s workers’ compensation premium are annual payroll, the type of industry and the employer’s history of workplace accidents. Because the sewer district is a relatively small employer, any workplace injury or reclassifying an employee to a different job class code has a significant proportionate impact on its annual premiums, it states.
Superstition Mountains Community Facilities District No. 1 — now known as the Apache Junction Sewer District — was formed by Apache Junction City Council in July 1992.
At its start-up in January 1996, the district’s collection system served 1,000 customers. Today, its collection system serves more than 7,000 customers and includes more than 115 miles of pipe and a lift station to convey wastewater to its water reclamation facility. The district’s service area has grown from 17 square miles to more than 50 square miles, according to its website.
Board members to the sewer district are appointed by the Apache Junction City Council.
Richard H. Dyer can be reached at rdyer@iniusa.org, or on X @rhdyer. To voice your opinion on this story, connect with us at AzOpinions@iniusa.org.
Meet Richard Richard Dyer has worked at Independent Newsmedia Inc. USA since 1987, starting his career in Apache Junction as a copy editor and being promoted over the years to work as the editor of the Mesa Independent, news services editor for the East Valley office in Apache Junction, managing editor for the East Valley office, news services editor for the East Valley office and eventually also for the newspapers at INI’s then-Chandler office, managing editor again and as a news editor covering Apache Junction/Gold Canyon and Queen Creek. He helped start the Florence Independent while the news editor covering Apache Junction and Mesa news. In January 2023, he became associate managing editor for the East Valley newspapers and in August 2023 became managing editor for the East Valley newspapers of Chandler/Tempe, Gilbert, Queen Creek, Florence, Mesa and Apache Junction/Gold Canyon, while also reporting on Mesa and Apache Junction/Gold Canyon.
Community: Since 2009, he has worked as a volunteer to design The Blue Guitar Magazine, Blue Guitar Jr. magazine and Unstrung magazine, which are projects of The Arizona Consortium for the Arts; and since 2014, has been overseeing the art submissions.
Education: University of Arizona with a master of arts in journalism and a bachelor of science in agricultural communication. Also continuing education at Mesa Community College in welding in a metal art sculpture class.
Random fact: Saw his first tornado on May 31, 2010, which was classified as an EF-2, as part of a stormchasing tour group.
Hobbies: He is an artist of welded-steel sculptures, selling his artwork at juried and non-juried art shows.
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