Can you show us some of the pics of local drivers?

I've posted all my photo's from this years Snowball Derby week to my web site. It was another great Derby this year & I encourage any one that has never been to this race to go down and check it out.
http://finishlinephotography.smugmug.com

Once again, the State of Florida has overridden recommendations to the contrary and proposed lowering workers' comp rates.

Let's take a closer look.

First of all, comp costs have not declined. In fact, they have increased, mostly due to legal fees. Several legislative attempts to limit legal fees on workers' comp claims have failed (imagine that, voted down by a group of ex-lawyers in congress.)

Medical costs have certainly not declined.

Is the workplace safer? Not according to the National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI), who claims that there has been no noticeable decrease in the number of incidents in the last 5 years.

So why are rates being lowered?

Is it political pressure? Who can get re-elected after stating "Sorry folks, but the lawyers are driving the cost per claim up so we need to raise rates again."

I can't think of any other reason to lower rates when costs are rising.


Let's examine the cost of workers' comp. Every time an employee is injured, he is required to report it to the insurance carrier's claims department. An adjuster evaluates the extent of the injury and sets a reserve amount to cover the entire claim. Keep in mind that injury claims can last for years and years. If a worker is disabled or kept from working for more than two weeks, then lost wages are paid as well.

These reserves are set to what might at first seem unbelievably high levels. Why would a cut finger at work reserve be set to $80,000?

Well the actuaries have demonstrated that a cut finger can run to that level, particularly if the injured worker gets a lawyer. Costs escalate as soon as lawyers are involved. What a surprise.

So they set a reserve for 80k, big deal, what do I care? Here's why you care: The carrier is now required to set aside that $80,000 and not able to write coverage using that money as surplus. It corresponds to about $800,000 in premium using a 10:1 rule in Florida.

This means that they are less likely to look at YOUR company as a comp risk. Lower rates means less premium means less surplus to cover injury reserves means insurance carriers will be less likely to approve your submission.

Hence, lower rates mean it will be harder to find comp for your company. Oh sure, once you find it you will pay less, but good luck if you are a small roofing company or a local trucking firm.

People who can't find coverage are eligible to go to the Florida Workers Compensation Joint Underwriting Authority, also known as the State Fund or JUA. This is a losing venture for the state, even with the extra charges they lop on top of premium. Be prepare to pay as much as 300% of your normal rates to be covered by the JUA, and to constantly demonstrate that you can't get coverage anywhere else. They JUA wants you to be somewhere else.

These lower rates on 1-1-2010 are going to make life very difficult for the JUA employees as well. They will have an upsurge of new clients, that lose money for the state, and they will have to hire more people to handle all this, again costing the state more money.


The solution, though obvious, is painful. Raise the rates about 20 to 25% across the board and more insurance companies will be willing to take the higher risks in Florida.

This will probably not happen with politicians in control of the rate setting process sadly ...

Not quite sure where this is.

I thought Seneca Falls was in Upstate NY

You can try the Waterford Lakes office in teh cabana by the pool on Mark Twain Blvd.

We are looking to make an offer on a house in Glenmore Chase and was wondering if I could find out who is in charge of the HOA for that area? I have many questions and concerns. Where we rent now there was alot of breakends several months ago off of Avalon Blvd. Our HOA stepped up and hired a 24 hour security guard, the gate is going to a manned gate, there is now a bar code on the cars which the scanner will scan and the first gate will open and then your clicker will open the second gate. I am just wondering if there are any plans for stepping up the safety of that area and how much crime is over there. I am also being told there is a community pool for that area. If I could find out where it is so I could go by that would be great. How strong of an HOA is it in that area? Any information would be great thanks

We are thinking about buying a house in the Glenmore Chase area on Seneca Falls. We rent around Avalon right now. We were just wondering who is in charge of the HOA there and if I could get an email or phone number to contact that person with some questions I have. Does anybody know if the HOA is very active or tries to enforce anything? It lists a community pool in the writeup where or is there one? How is the crime in that area? I know some of the developments have increased their security, gates etc as develoments off Avalon Blvd had a wave of breakins several months ago. Just wondered if this house and area are worth me persuing or should I go elsewhere? Any thoughts or suggestions I would appreciate it. Thank you

Preparation K - Prepare for Karma

First of all, I am not in to eastern religions at all, but there is no simpler description of the concept I am talking about than Karma.  It's the round world theory, "what goes around comes around."

Beware of treating someone badly or unfairly, it will come back to hurt you.

Be prepared to treat people fairly even if they aren't treating you the same way.  Not only do you feel better about yourself you do get rewarded up there in the high place.

Preparation J - Prepare for a Journey

This may be literal.  Your career, business or new enterprise may involve traveling.  While it's true that with the internet age upon us we do less and less face to face, there is no discounting the value of a face to face meeting.  Trust and Respect is hard to build up on an internet chat line.

It's also important to remember that Success is continually reaching or exceeding certain goals at certain milestones.  Sometimes that goal may be just to survive to fight another day.  That's still a goal.

Prepare for the journey.  A win is a win, but there are other challenges coming up.  If the challenges have stopped coming at you, then you must be in the pine box already.

Preparation I - Prepare for Intuition

Sometimes you get feelings, hunches, "voices", etc.  Keep track of how often they are right, wrong, close, not close or not even relevant.  Learn to trust those that are right.

When in doubt, do the right thing.  How do you know what the right thing is?  You know.  You can tell if something is right or wrong.  Don't do the wrong thing either.

Preparation H

This one is taken already.