Thursday March 28th, 2024 3:50PM

Lula increases insurance coverage at lower cost for upcoming year

LULA — The Lula City Council has decided to stay with its current liability insurance provider when the May 1 renewal date arrives.

At Monday night’s meeting, the council voted to pay $35,264 to Glatfelter Public Practice for coverage in the upcoming year. That’s a $2,166 reduction over the current year premium of $37,430.

“We’ve been fortunate to have the same coverage for the last number of years,” said City Manager Dennis Bergin. “Surprisingly, insurance premiums never seem to go down, but this year was the exception. Our coverage remains the same. We’ve compared them to one other firm that was available for bid.”

Bergin said insurance negotiations are an every year thing for the council, even if they are locked in a multi-year contract as some insurers require. Mayor Milton Turner pointed out that even in those contracts rates are not locked.

Still, city leaders say they are pleased with a reduced premium for the upcoming year.

“In this case, it probably can be more attributed to our claim history, which has been zero to none over the last number of years, which might reflect in our new rates this year,” Bergin said. “We’re just pleased the council was again able to tackle this.”

With the reduced premium, Bergin asked council members to consider paying $550 per year more to add $5 million in replacement coverage for the city’s infrastructure, including its wastewater treatment facility, to cover potential earthquake damage. While it is unlikely, Bergin said $10 million is a more realistic number for replacement of the plant.

“We’ve extended some of the earthquake coverage, primarily for the waste treatment facility that we have, that would add additional coverage at an additional premium, so we’re pretty comfortable with that, being able to take that to $10 million in the event of an earthquake,” Bergin said.

Even with the additional coverage bringing the total to $35,814, the city still is saving $1,616 over the current year’s premium and is $3,186 below the budgeted amount.

All council members voted in favor of staying with Glatfelter Public Practice, but Councilman Vince Evans voted against adding the extra $5 million of earthquake coverage.

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