Scott County insurance renewal comes in favorably, broker says

Jeff Young, an insurance broker with Arthur J. Gallagher, told the Scott County Board of Supervisors Committee of the Whole on June 17 that ‘‘the insurance renewal for Scott County this year came in very favorable, in light of everything that’s going on across the insurance industry for public entities.’’

The presentation summarized renewals across property, liability, workers’ compensation and medical professional lines and placed the county’s experience against national market trends. Young said the county’s Chubb property renewal rose 18%, but that about 16 percentage points of that increase were attributable to adding the juvenile detention facility to coverage late last year; excluding that addition, the Chubb increase would have been roughly 2%. He also said Travelers’ liability premium was up about 10% and that Chubb moved to a 1% wind-tail deductible while other deductibles remain $100,000.

Rhonda Usternick, who joined the meeting online and helped introduce the item, and Mahesh (meeting staff) invited questions after Young’s remarks. Young said Scott County’s workers’ compensation is in the second year of a two-year guaranteed-rate policy and praised county department heads for ‘‘lower than average claims frequency and claims severity.’’ He reported the cyber liability market ‘‘has really flattened out’’ and that the county’s IT protocols were meeting carrier expectations. On medic professional coverage (which includes ambulance exposure), Young said the county’s current carrier relationship produced a small decrease in rating despite limited market capacity for carriers willing to cover both correctional and ambulance exposures.

No formal action was recorded during the presentation; the item was presented as a routine annual renewal briefing. County staff indicated the packet included a Gallagher state-of-the-market memo and that staff would proceed with the recommended renewals.

The board did not identify follow-up items during the meeting; county staff and the broker fielded no substantive public objections during the presentation.