A. Claims Made By the City and Recoveries

In addition to claims made against the City, the City also makes claims against third parties and/or its insurer when it suffers a loss. Given the City’s high deductible for property damage, only very few claims are made to the City’s insurer. In 2019, the City submitted a claim to its insurer relating to the docks at Lakeview Marina. That claim is still ongoing.

When a third party is at fault for a City loss, the City can try to recover from the at-fault third party or the at-fault party’s insurer. Recoveries are carried out by Risk Management on behalf of other City departments. The program has grown over the years, as more avenues of recovery have been realized and more departments participate in the program.

Since expanding this program into Windsor Fire and Rescue, there was a backlog of these claims that Risk Management had to catch up on in 2016 and 2017. The backlog was eliminated by 2018. However, the recoveries since then continue to increase. This is attributed to a combination of factors – the addition of Windsor Fire and Rescue claims, increased departmental participation and pursuit of recoveries, and damage done to higher value assets.

Below is a summary of the number of recoveries pursued by the City since 2014, and the amount recovered.

Year	# of Recoveries	Amount Recovered
2014	73	$185,726
2015	82	$171,527
2016	247	$264,916
2017	363	$318,460
2018	189	$300,285
2019	158	$404,097

As with any year, all recoveries depend on the frequency and severity of damage to City property where the identity of the at-fault party can be determined and the number of incidents to which Windsor Fire and Rescue is called to respond. In 2019, there were increases in recoveries across nearly all areas. There were four bus shelters and nine guardrails damaged for which Risk Management was able to collect. In addition, Environmental Services and Facilities submitted claims for recovery, and these departments had never historically done so.