The Texas city of Amarillo incurred three times more in costs for COVID-19 claims in the most recent fiscal year than it typically budgets for all workers’ compensation claims in a year, according to a report by MyHighPlains.com.

Laura Storrs

Assistant City Manager Laura Storrs said during a City Council meeting that 2021 bill SB 22 creating a presumption that COVID-19 is a work injury for first responders was at least partly responsible.

“On average, we usually incur about $1.3 million each year on our workers’ compensation claims,” Storrs said. “So, with the addition of this new Senate bill and putting COVID-19 claims in it, this last fiscal year, the one that ended Sept. 30, 2021, we incurred a total of $5.4 million in workers’ comp claims; $3.9 million of that was associated with our first responder COVID-19 claims.”

City Manager Jared Miller said the high claim costs could cause a shortfall in the city’s self-insurance fund “within one year, maybe two.”