Belton council reviews insurance bids, directs staff to split coverages to preserve savings

Belton City Council members on Tuesday reviewed a yearlong evaluation of the city’s property, liability, workers’ compensation and cyber insurance and gave staff direction to return a resolution that keeps property, liability and cyber with Midwest Public Risk (MPR) while seeking a separate workers’ compensation carrier that staff said would yield the largest savings.

City staff presented results of a market review conducted with broker Brown & Brown and internal risk work over the last 12 months. “We, worked with Brown and Brown, who was the vendor that was the consultant that was helping us look at those lines,” staff said. The review considered more than 35 vendors, on-site facility tours and risk-mitigation work such as safety committee activity and equipment purchases.

Staff said the city’s asset schedule grew substantially after an update, which increased insured values by about $42,000,000 from 2020 to 2025 and raised premiums but made the inventory accurate. “As you can see from 2020 to 2025, we had a 45% increase in our assets or $42,000,000,” a staff presenter said.

On property and liability, staff reported Midwest Public Risk provides competitive pricing and favorable deductibles for certain perils such as wind and hail; in a single large hail/wind claim example from 2019, city losses were over $300,000, which informed the council’s risk calculus. “One wind and hail claim. The company that we are currently with makes sense to stay with, if that helps to answer your question,” staff said.

On cyber insurance, staff recommended staying with MPR. “The cyber policy is the same. So it was 22,000 with NPR [MPR], and they actually offer much better coverage than the other company that we looked at,” a presenter said.

Workers’ compensation produced the largest potential savings. Staff said one vendor’s all-or-nothing package (combining property, liability and work comp) showed savings on paper but carried much higher property deductibles that could erase savings if a major claim occurred. After separating coverages, staff found an alternative workers’ compensation carrier that staff estimated could save roughly $346,000 annually for the city while keeping property/liability with MPR. “When we did go back out and look at it, the numbers were set specifically from the city of Belton instead of a pool… the savings with that new company is $346,000,” a presenter said.

Council members asked clarifying questions about deductible differences, how savings would be realized and operational impacts of splitting carriers. Staff noted operational trade-offs if property and liability were split—“we would be working with 2 separate companies on the same claim and trying to resolve it using potentially 2 separate attorneys,” a staff member said—but recommended separate workers’ compensation to capture net savings when accounting for MPR’s safety credits.

Council members provided verbal direction that they were comfortable proceeding with MPR for property/liability/cyber and a separate vendor (referred to in staff materials as MEM/ProVisor) for workers’ compensation and asked staff to prepare a resolution for the next council meeting. Staff said the deadline to notify Midwest Public Risk is June 1 for the July 1 renewal cycle. The council did not take a formal vote on insurance selection at the meeting; staff will return a formal resolution for council action.