County insurance costs show significant rise

On Monday, March 20, the Board of Supervisors heard from representative Hal Graves of FBBInsurance in Meadville that premiums for county government coverage are on the rise yet again.

“It did go up about 20 percent,” Graves said. “I (asked) why we’re going up, and one of the reasons is the reinsurance market. MASIT has a pool of money that its uses to pay claims, but, above that, they have to go out to buy reinsurance in case we have something really bad happen.”

Graves went on to say that there was an increase in the county’s property insurance of $3,785,752 — climbing from $21,765,080 to $25,558,032.57.

“They always come back sometime and do a survey of your buildings and contents to make sure we’re at replacement cost,” he said.

“The percentage increase on the buildings was 17.39 (percent), just that much more coverage you’re paying for, which is part of the (overall) increase.

“And the buildings’ (coverage) is a big part of the premium. The total premium renewal is $298,052.05. The property premium by itself is $153,381, so there’s a good bit of your increase right there.”

Graves also said there was a change on the property coverage that might affect the county in the future.

A clause allowing for “unnamed locations” was removed. He said that after a hail storm that happened locally 10 years ago, this clause was what allowed the county to claim damages on the old Movie Star garment factory building, which was not listed on the insurance policy.

He went on to say the county’s deductible was $5,000.

“You do have some flood limits in there, and you have earthquake coverage. Those have a 2 percent deductible, so you do have a different deductible (for that) than the $5,000.

“I have a little bit of a breakdown of the property premiums for the hospital and all. Y’all pay for the insurance on the hospital building and the Gabbert clinic building and then the hospital — I assume you bill them for what they owe — and they’re going to owe you about $16,000 or $17,000.

“The hospital building takes up a lot of the premium, and so does the courthouse.”

Graves then gave the panel a brief overview of the insurance policy and what else changed or stayed the same.

“We’re showing that you have 55 vehicles insured at an amount of $2,558,331 — that’s only collision and comprehensive for all of them. That figure didn’t change from last year to this year.

“The number of employees (changed) … last year, we had 90 and this time around we’ve got 91.

“Law enforcement liability … I think we showed three full-time deputies last year and four this year. So the law enforcement liability premium went up 33 percent because of that. As y’all know, that’s a pretty good chunk of the premium, too.

“This quote includes cyber coverage — I think there’s a $2 million limit for cyber for Franklin County — the aggregate limit of the pool changed to $10 million. That just means you can have $10 million worth of cyber claims going among all the counties that participate.”

In other action during the meeting, supervisors considered these business items:

• Heard from a former Franklin County citizen, Merle Scott, who complained that when he closed his solid waste account with the county, he was blocked from getting a tag in Lee County, where he currently resides.

Scott has since received his tag, but expressed his displeasure that he was not informed at the time of closing his account that he would be “blocked” in another county.

Solid waste representative Melissa Bales explained the law states a resident cannot get a tag if they are not paying a garbage bill.

In Scott’s case, a hold was placed on his account because it was closed, but as employees in Lee County could not see why there was a hold on his account they did not provide him with a tag at first, although he had a solid waste account there.

• Heard from Tax Assessor-Collector Talina King Matthews that homeowners in Franklin County have until Friday, March 31 to file for homestead exemption — as April 1 falls on a Saturday.

“Homeowners who received the exemption last year and did not have a change in their status do not need to reapply,” she said.

Additionally, business owners within the county must report their assets via personal property renditions by Friday, March 31 as well.

• Accepted Homestead Exemption chargebacks as presented by Chancery Clerk Jill Jordan Gilbert.

• Approved the quarterly budget allocations for the sheriff’s department and the tax assessor-collector’s office for the third quarter of fiscal year 2023.

• Approved the distribution of rail car taxes for 2022 from the Mississippi Public Service Commission.

The total amount received was $109,027.39, which was split as follows: District 1, $5,429.56; District 2, $47,416.01; District 3, $3,096.38, District 4, $41,114.23; Roxie, $3,129.09; Meadville, $2,129.09; Bude, $6,650.67.

District 5 did not receive any of the money as no railways are located within its boundaries.

• Spread on the minutes a certificate of attendance for Gilbert for having attended Chancery Court proceedings at a term, or terms, of the Chancery Court in Franklin County as required by statute.

• Approved payment to FBBInsurance in the amount of $250 for a $50,000 bond on Deputy Sheriff Otis Dyer.

• Approved a permit application from Franklin Telephone Co., for a utility right-of-way on Bogue Chitto Road at Ratcliff Lane.

The Franklin County Board of Supervisors will hold its next regular business meeting at 9 a.m., Monday, April 3 at the courthouse in Meadville.