Ohio Workers’ Comp Bureau: Rates for Local Governments Falling

Ohio public employers can look forward an average 9.1 percent reduction in workers’ compensation rates for local governments, the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation (BWC) announced.

The new rates cover 3,800 cities, counties, townships, villages, schools and special districts, and will be effective Jan. 1, 2015. This rate reduction, combined with decreases implemented in each of the past four years, will result in a total decrease to local government rates of nearly 20 percent since 2011, the BWC said.

The decrease represents a reduction to the average of the collectible rates for public employer taxing districts covered by the BWC. Actual premium changes for individual public entities will differ based on several factors, including their manual classification, as well as their own recent claims history and program participation.

Reductions are expected for all 13 classifications associated with public employer taxing districts. The base rate for cities will decrease by an overall 13.9 percent while the county base rate will decrease by an overall 9.7 percent. The largest overall decrease is in the Volunteer/EMS classification at 22.4 percent.

The BWC’s board will vote on the reductions in each category in November.