Brown and Brown insurance broker Jeff St. Clair presented Columbia County’s 2025–26 insurance renewal to the Board of Commissioners on June 4, describing a “fragile” insurance marketplace and explaining the main drivers of the county’s premium increases.

St. Clair told the commissioners that market volatility and recent catastrophe losses have made capacity uncertain and that Columbia County participates in a group purchase through City County Insurance Service (CIS), which provides scale and protection. He said property and mobile-equipment coverage rose from about $204,000 to $308,000 in premium because the county added new buildings and completed an appraisal to better reflect replacement values. He also said the property program has a $1,000 deductible and that the county carries about $175 million in total insured values.

St. Clair described the county’s quake and flood approach as layered coverage: $5 million provided through the City County pool plus an additional $15 million the county purchases, for a total of about $20 million of extra catastrophe coverage above the base program. He noted cyber coverage is a mix of pool layers and a dedicated outside Palomar policy; the standalone Palomar layer provides $1 million in limits dedicated to the county.

On liability and workers’ compensation, St. Clair said liability rates rose modestly (noting an example change from $6.29 to $6.83 in rate units) and that workers’ compensation has seen a larger increase as pre‑COVID low-loss years rolled off experience ratings. He explained the mod (experience modifier) and said the county’s recent losses and broader market rate increases drove the higher workers’ comp renewal. He also flagged a broker fee calculated on a 3% escalator independent of commission.

St. Clair reviewed public entity liability limits: the pool provides $10 million per occurrence and up to $30 million aggregate per year for a member. He discussed ransomware and cyber costs, describing multiweek incident responses and large potential costs for remediation and negotiation.

Commissioners asked for more detail on the appraisal and the premium impact of a recently completed building; one commissioner requested a breakdown showing how much of the increase was attributable to that specific facility. St. Clair said carriers and appraisers perform valuations and offered to provide the county with the appraisal documents and a facility‑level cost summary. He also recommended ongoing attention to risk management and cybersecurity practices.

No board vote was recorded on policy changes; the presentation was informational and staff indicated they would follow up with requested appraisal and premium-detail documents.