Worcester Only Pays 10 Percent of Its Pothole Claims

Thursday, May 10, 2012

Sandy Meindersma, GoLocalWorcester Reporter

Hundreds of Worcester drivers submit claims to the city after their cars are damaged by a pothole. A GoLocalWorcester investigation has found that fewer than 10 percent of all claims actually get paid.

According to City Solicitor David Moore, in the last five years, the city has paid only 47 of 471 pothole claims, and the average amount paid is $267.

Limits of City’s Liability

While citizens whose cars are damaged on city streets would be happier if the city always paid their claims, state law limits the city’s liability.

According to Moore, the city is only liable if it knew about a pothole and failed to repair it in a timely manner.

“Ten percent is high,” he said of the number of claims paid. “There were 28 claims paid in 2009. If you take that big year out, then we would have paid only 19 of 375 claims.”

Moore credited the city’s Department of Public Works and Parks (DPW&P) pothole crew and their prompt response to reported potholes with part of the reason the claims payments are so low.

Claims Process

Moore said the claim process for pothole damage does not officially begin until a complaint is filed in writing with the City Clerk. The claim must be filed within 30 days of the incident, and proof of the damage must be provided to the city.

Moore said his office verifies whether or not the city knew about the pothole, and whether or not it was fixed within 24 hours. If the city didn’t know, or if the report was called within less than 24 hours, the city doesn’t have to pay.

“Many people think that if their car is damaged on city streets, then the city is responsible,” Moore said. “But we’re only responsible if the city fails to repair it in a reasonable time.”

2009 Unusual Year

There were 28 paid claims in fiscal 2009, more than half of all claims during the five year period. Those claims totaled almost $9000 in value, and the average of the 2009 claims was higher than any other year’s claims. By contrast, there were only 5 claims paid in 2011, out of 101 filed, and the total was $720.

Moore said he did not know why there were so many more paid claims in 2009 than in any other year, and he declined to speculate.

“It’s not a consistent phenomenon,” he said. “Water gets into a weakness in the pavement and freezes, and then we can get thousands of potholes in 24 hours

“There are five or six pothole crews, and they go through 10 tons of asphalt – they fill a lot of potholes before they’re even reported.”

City Responsive

Matt Labovites, assistant commissioner of the city’s Department of Public Works and Parks (DPW&P), said that some potholes get repaired the day they are reported and that most are repaired within 24 hours.

Citizens can report potholes to the city with a 24 hour hotline at (508) 929-1300 or through the city's website.

“We don’t just fix called in potholes,” Labovites said. “When our crews are out fixing potholes, they look for other ones on the street. Some springs are worse than others.”

GoLocalWorcester reported that the city is involved in a $20 million road resurfacing plan, which is designed to reduce the number of potholes the DPWP has to fix, and that the DPW&P is repairing over 1000 potholes each month.

Residents Not Impressed

Angel Cruz of Worcester wasn’t buying it. He was repairing a broken strut on his 1990 Nissan 380ZX.

“That’s why I’m fixing my car right now,” he said. “The strut broke off. The roads off of Grafton Street are really bad.”

When asked he planned to file a claim with the city, Cruz laughed. “I don’t waste my time. They don’t do nothing, even though a lot of people complain.”