Hancock County supervisors approve insurance-pool membership and decline deductible buy-down

The Hancock County Board of Supervisors approved membership in the Coast Government Insurance Pool and voted to accept policy terms without a buy-down of the total-insured-value (TIV) deductible, the board said at a special meeting. The actions passed unanimously, 5-0.

The decision matters because the buy-down would have lowered the county’s per-occurrence deductible (discussed in the meeting as moving from roughly $1.4 million to $500,000) at a one-time cost the insurance agent described as about $91,000–$92,000. Supervisors weighed that upfront cost against long-term premium savings and the county’s exposure for a major loss affecting high-value county assets, including the courthouse, jail and library, which participants said together represent a substantial share of the county’s covered value.

The board’s insurance agent for the supervisors, identified in the meeting as Mr. Saint Ford, presented the pool…