Insurance briefing flags rising liability claims; county to keep $50,000 deductible and consider coverage changes for heavy equipment

Insurance consultants reviewed the county’s workers’ compensation and property/liability programs and warned that rising general-liability reserves and reopened claims will raise the county’s experience modification and premiums.

“...we're sitting at about 3.943 in reserves,” one presenter said when describing current reserves for open claims, and noted reserves and reopened files have driven the county’s liability cost from roughly $1.4 million to $3.8 million in recent years. Presenters said the change would raise the county’s experience-mod factor to about 1.28, a roughly 13% increase in premium impact.

Consultants recommended keeping the county’s $50,000 general-liability deductible for the renewal because raising the retention could have limited premium benefit and might affect open claims. They also outlined options to reduce costs by moving heavy rolling stock and high-value equipment to liability-only coverage and removing lower-value equipment from the insured schedule.

Board members asked staff to return in June with renewal quotes showing different deductible and vehicle-scheduling scenarios and to provide itemized costs for vehicles and equipment so the commissioners can consider targeted adjustments rather than blanket changes.

What happens next: staff will get renewal quotes, model the fiscal impact of alternate deductibles and schedule changes, and return to the board with cost comparisons.