FRANKFORT, Ind. (Feb. 2, 2024) – The Clinton County Commissioners were presented with only two insurance companies willing to insure county properties and assets during a special meeting of the commissioners held Thursday at the Clinton County Courthouse.
The force to find new coverage was the result of being served with a 60-day non-renewal notice from Tokio Marine, the county insurer for the past three years. The county received the letter on November 27, 2023, stating Tokio Marine was withdrawing from the market place.
Todd Jackson with McGowan Insurance Group, the county insurance broker, made the presentation and commented only two companies presented offers – Trident and Great American. He recommended the commissioners select Great American with a 15 percent premium increase over 2023, while Trident was 22.7 percent.
Jackson shared only “ten to twelve” companies work to insure public entities with the “least desirable being counties due to landfills, county homes, and jails.”
The new coverage comes with an additional “$9 million in property value that needed to be done to maintain replacement cost on everything” according to Jackson.
The coverage went into effect Thursday – running February 1, 2024 through January 31, 2025.
The 2024 premium at the time of signing on February 1st was quoted at $636,457 which will fluctuate with additional assets purchased or new employees due to workers compensation coverage.
The premium includes the Great American coverage as well as carriers for workers compensation, cyber security, and liability coverage for the county home – the county home property is covered in the Great American policy.
Jackson explained the “real rate” increase to be closer to “ten to eleven” percent.
“I would say the property bump, exposure we added probably accounts for three-and-a-half to four percent of that and pull the payroll rate back and we are at ten to eleven percent,” Jackson said.
The county had budgeted an insurance premium cost increase during its August 2023 budget sessions.
Commissioner Jordan Brewer shared his thoughts on the increase and what might be a “silver lining” in all of this.
“We list the prior premiums and it looks like a large jump, but that prior doesn’t include what an increase would have been if Tokio Marine would have stayed,” Brewer said. “The silver lining is – I don’t know if this is a good thing or a bad thing – we budgeted enough so we don’t have to go back and ask for more from council.”
