FARMINGTON – Commissioners have received two bids to cover the county’s property and casualty insurance needs for the next calendar year, and intend to discuss the issue at a meeting on Oct. 24.
Bids were submitted by the Maine County Commissioners Association risk pool, which currently provides the county with coverage, and Kyes Insurance of Farmington. Bids were opened Wednesday morning, with the MCCA bid coming in at $73,936 while the Kyes Insurance bid was $44,803. Commissioners asked county administrators to review both bids to ensure they meet the county’s needs prior to Tuesday’s meeting.
Franklin County has been a part of the MCCA risk pool since 1991, two years after it formed as a result of some of its future-members being otherwise unable to acquire insurance. The pool collects funds from its members and provides coverage by insuring against major incidents and covering the cost of lawsuits filed against jails, sheriff’s offices and other elements of county government.
Commissioners issued a request for proposals for insurance in an effort to find a lower-cost option.
In a meeting with commissioners earlier this month, Malcolm Ulmer, the MCCA risk pool manager, said that in the past 10 years the pool’s costs have decreased even though the size of county budgets, the valuation of county property and the number of motor vehicles all increased. Were Franklin County to pull out of the risk pool, he said, there would be an assessment associated with the number of open years with potential costs – approximately nine or 10 years – as determined by the risk pool’s arrangement with the county. As those years closed without major expenses, the assessed funds would be returned to the county.
If commissioners opted to go with Kyes Insurance, the county would need to announce its withdrawal from the risk pool 60 days in advance. The new insurance would take effect on Jan. 1, 2018.
Thank you Charlie and Terry for finally putting this out to bid and listening to what the county budget committee had been suggesting for the last few years. If only other commissioners had listened in the past we might seen these savings years ago.