Committee recommends switching Sun City West insurance program to Cincinnati after market shopping

The Budget & Finance Committee of the Rec Centers of Sun City West reviewed its annual property and casualty insurance renewal and recommended moving the program from the incumbent carrier (referred to in the presentation as Philadelphia) to Cincinnati Insurance Company after a market search.

The recommendation followed a presentation by the association's CFO, Cliff Swan, and insurance brokers John Newhouse and Christy Brown of Brown & Brown. Newhouse said the marketplace is restricting capacity and increasing deductibles, and that going to market produced a competitive quote from Cincinnati that kept building limits constant and reduced the committee’s projected net premium compared with Philadelphia’s renewal offer. “We made the recommendation for you guys to move from Philadelphia to Cincinnati Insurance Company,” Newhouse said during the meeting.

The committee heard details on the scale of exposures the association insures — including 54 buildings, multiple recreation facilities, pools, and a large vehicle fleet — and on how carriers were pricing different lines. Brokers said Philadelphia proposed increasing building values (from about $61 million to about $67 million on some locations) and reducing umbrella capacity from $10 million to $5 million; the broker team said they restructured layers so the association would retain comparable total umbrella limits. Brokers also described deductible increases the market sought (from $5,000 toward $25,000 on some property layers) and described competitive offers: an expiring total premium of roughly $592,000, a Philadelphia renewal quote (initially higher, later reduced in negotiation), and a Cincinnati quote reported around $658,000 (figures were presented as rounded premiums during the meeting).

Newhouse and Brown explained the carriers’ reasoning: higher frequency of large liability claims and changes in modeling have pushed some underwriters to reduce their line sizes and seek higher deductibles. Brokers also noted specific coverages (directors-and-officers, flood, cyber, pollution liability for golf-course chemicals) and described how the new placement would be achieved across multiple insurers to maintain limits. Cliff Swan summarized that the association would be moving ahead with the broker recommendation and that the premium assumptions used in the FY26 operating budget reflect an allowance for an insurance increase.

Committee members asked about service continuity with a new carrier and whether Cincinnati had previously been interested in this type of account. Brokers said Cincinnati underwriters made a commitment this year and that the brokerage has worked with Cincinnati on other accounts. Multiple committee members said they were satisfied with the analysis and thanked the presenters; no formal roll-call vote was recorded in the transcript, and meeting minutes reflect the committee accepted the recommendation.

Why it matters: Sun City West insures a broad set of facilities and operations that expose the association to property and liability risk; changes in carrier capacity, limits and deductibles affect both annual premiums and the association’s retained exposure. The committee’s recommendation to change carriers affects the association’s FY26 operating assumptions and the placement strategy for multiple lines of coverage.

The committee moved on to the rest of the agenda after confirming insurance renewal projections were incorporated into the budget process and without recording a separate formal motion in the audio transcript.