Trust urges Utah County to hire full-time risk manager after high loss-ratio review

The Utah Local Governments Trust told the County Commission that Utah County’s insurance performance is poor relative to peer governments and recommended a full-time county risk manager to reduce claims and long-term costs. "Your current loss ratio is 313% with an E mod of 1.35," Ryan Hatch, the Trust’s risk finance manager, told commissioners, citing data that translated into roughly $2.1 million in premium paid and $5.3 million in paid losses for the county on liability lines.

Trust presenters compared the county to St. George, Logan and Lehi, municipalities that assign a risk manager to the attorney’s office and report substantially lower loss ratios and EMODs. The Trust recommended three core actions: hire a risk manager (salary and benefits estimated at about $200,000 a year), expand team recognition/incentives and implement a loss chargeback policy for departments to drive cultural change. The Trust said these measures could deliver a conservative annual return on investment in the low hundreds of thousands ("on the low end ... a return on investment of 500 and a half a million dollars a year, upwards of 800 plus"), and a target 40% reduction in losses would bring county loss performance in line with size and services.

Presenters recommended housing the risk manager in the county attorney’s office (where several successful programs are based) to give the position authority and direct access to claims and legal work. Commissioners expressed broad support and staff confirmed HR had a risk-manager position request in the current budget packet; commissioners asked staff to 'pencil in' the position for the current cycle and coordinate final job description and funding.

Provenance and next steps: Trust presentation and peer comparisons were presented during the work session; commissioners directed staff to consider adding the position to the staffing plan for the budget cycle and return with details on job description, placement and budget impact. No formal hiring action occurred at this meeting.

Speakers quoted (first reference and role): Ryan Hatch, Risk Finance Manager, Utah Local Governments Trust (S15); Steven Hansen, CEO, Utah Local Governments Trust (S14).