Municipal insurance premiums for traditional coverage for the township will rise by about three per cent, Steve Smith of Frank Cowan Company Ltd., told Mapleton councillors on Oct. 22.
“Your municipality has very good loss experience … but that’s through very good management,” Smith stated.
However he noted continually increasing awards against municipalities continue to drive up premiums.
“Awards are getting higher and higher – it’s a very litigious society out there,” said Smith.
Smith urged the municipality to support efforts by insurers and the Association of Municipalities of Ontario to push for changes to “joint and several liability” provisions, which often cause the party with deepest pockets to pay the entire cost of a claim, even when found through the courts to be only partially responsible.
The township will pay an annual premium of $176,945 for all forms of coverage in the 2014 term. That’s up about three per cent from the $170,989 the municipality paid in premium for the 2013 term.
Smith said deductible amounts for liability have been increased from $10,000 to $15,000 in the new policy.
“That’s based on population. Unfortunately you have to move up to the next ladder,” he explained.
In addition to existing coverages, Smith said his company is offering the municipality three new program options to consider. The options would provide coverage for:
– accident and critical illness coverage for council/board members;
– accident coverage for volunteers working on the township’s behalf;
– a legal expense option to cover the cost of contract disputes, debt recovery, statutory license protection, property protection and tax protection;
– a cyber risk policy.
Smith said the critical illness coverage could be purchased by individual councillors, noting, “You don’t all have to buy it.”
The cyber risk policy, Smith explained, is a new option that would cover claims for such issues such as failure of technology or breach of municipal data base systems. “It will also cover restoration of your reputation,” should the municipality incur damages of this nature as a result of a hacking incident.
CAO Patty Sinnamon suggested a decision could be made on purchasing additional coverage options after further investigation by staff into the municipality’s requirements.
Council accepted the insurance program as provided by the Frank Cowan Company and agreed additional coverage could be added at a later date if deemed advisable.
