Published: July 06, 2008 10:23 am      

Property damage adds up for city

Accidents cost Duncan in insurance costs

DUNCAN — There may only be a few a year that end up incurring city property damages, but there’s enough for it to add up to big bucks for Duncan.

It’s probably the last thing on one’s mind after being involved in an automobile accident. After all, who’s worried about a guardrail or the electrical box at an intersection that bears the marks of an unfortunate occurrence?

But when the numbers add up to thousands in repairs, the idea might turn a head or two. Thankfully, most motorists have insurance that will pay for the damage, but that doesn’t mean the cost won’t be deflected back to the insured in a rate adjustment.

“Any time they (insurance companies) pay out anything on property damage, they look at it when they adjust the rates,” said Councilman Tommy Edwards, who is also an insurance agent.

“In general, it would probably be an increase,” Edwards continued. “But it’s just part of an accident. That property damage that the insurance company pays out is all considered part of the accident, usually.”

Though some cities may not collect for damages to their property, Duncan is not one of them. A renewed effort to collect on claims is ongoing in the city.

A little more than $14,100 in damages has been collected for 2007-08 and an additional $3,093.64 is outstanding in billing for the same time frame, according to the city’s finance department.

City Manager Clyde Shaw noted that the city has historically billed for destruction to city property when it is aware of the damages. However, for hit-and-run incidents, there’s no option other than to address the wreckage.

Additional problems are encountered when the damage seems too small to report, but it still adds up to dollars.

“It’s small items that occur that nobody bothers to notify that it’s occurred,” he said. “Somebody hits a guardrail, but it wasn’t bad enough to go out and replace it or tell anybody. But there’s still some damage there and somebody should turn it in.”

For the uninsured motorist, things might get a little more hairy if he or she is involved in an accident. Besides being a violation of state law for not carrying vehicle insurance, the city can seek compensation for damages through municipal court.

“There is a city ordinance in relation to destruction of city property,” Shaw said. “So while we have many accident reports right now where there’s no citation issued, we will if there’s property damage.

“We will be issuing the citation either through the police or through the city attorney for that purpose and we will seek restitution.”