City insurance renewal shows modest 2% increase; consultants flag cyber, weather and litigation risks

Stacy Vill of Marion’s finance department introduced consultant representatives from PDCM, who reviewed the city’s FY27 commercial property and liability renewal, the drivers of premium changes and the city’s risk exposures.

Iris Bearing (PDCM) described the insurer landscape and said municipalities face four primary emerging risks: cybersecurity (including AI-enabled fraud and voice/video attacks), severe-weather losses that raise property rates, workforce/talent shortages that affect operations, and growing liability and litigation trends. As she summarized the risk-management framing, she said, “insurance is risk and risk is money,” underscoring the connection between loss control and premium sustainability.

PDCM reported the overall renewal was about a 2% increase year-over-year and called out property as the largest single component of that change. The city’s total insured value was stated at just north of $142 million. PDCM explained Marion’s liability structure: underlying limits are paired with $9 million of excess liability to provide a broader umbrella above primary coverages.

Council members probed areas that might need additional coverage. One council member asked about pollution coverage; PDCM recommended considering targeted pollution/environmental coverage for certain exposures such as chemical storage but did not call it immediately critical.

PDCM emphasized cyber risk and the pace of change in threats, advising continued staff training and technical protections. The consultants also said that although property rates had been pressured by recent convective storms and hail in the region, the city was seeing a more moderate renewal environment than in prior years.

Why it matters: The renewal shapes the city’s FY27 operating budget and risk-management priorities. Staff and consultants recommended targeted attention to cyber controls, periodic updates of total insured values and consideration of environmental/pollution coverage where exposures exist.

What’s next: Staff will incorporate the renewal into the FY27 insurance program and continue evaluating coverage options, including whether to add environmental coverage in future renewals.