Treasurer’s staff collects record one-day high in comp premiums
CHARLESTON – State Treasurer John Perdue’s office collected an all-time, one-day record high of $48 million in Workers’ Compensation premiums Feb. 2, breaking a seven-year-old record established when the state paid an outside contractor about $120,000 a year for the service.
Perdue’s office processed and deposited the record amount, using the receipts processing staff and members of other divisions. That total broke a 1997 record of $45 million in a day, when Mellon Bank of Pittsburgh held a state contract to collect the funds.
By May, the treasurer’s decision to move the work in-house will have saved the state approximately $250,000 over two years, according to vendor records.
The arrangement also enables overnight deposit and investment of funds, because staff electronically code checks on-site and deposit them directly with the local Federal Reserve Bank.
“We’re very proud of the hard work put forth by our people,” Perdue said, “and pleased by our in-house work resulting in such a savings.”
The record amount could likely be attributed to collections due at the end of January. In all, the treasurer’s receipts processing division processed $130.8 million in Workers’ Compensation premiums for the month.
Perdue’s receipts processing staff checks post office boxes for various agencies and divisions, collecting revenue as it comes in.
The rapid collection and deposit enables entities such as Workers’ Compensation to invest money quicker, thereby resulting in greater interest. It also frees those agencies from handling checks themselves, which saves money and hours.
2-04-04
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