Brown County seeks options as K Camp appraisal raises cost to insure historic society building

Brown County commissioners spent a major portion of their meeting reviewing insurance options after K Camp reported a significant increase in the replacement-cost appraisal for the countys Historical Society building.

David Knutson, acting administrator for K Camp, told the commission the pool appraises county locations every four years and that COVID-era material and labor inflation has driven replacement-cost estimates higher. "We appraise all of our county locations every four years," Knutson said. "Those appraisals are done on-site and include trending factors; material and labor costs jumped in recent years, so replacement costs rose substantially." David Luke, formerly of K Camp, added that the pool typically provides replacement-cost coverage but pays claims on the basis of actual cash value at settlement, with margin clauses and other protections in place.

Commissioners said they were weighing the countys budget impact against the risk of a loss to a building used only intermittently. One commissioner summarized the local calculation: rather than paying an additional estimated $25,000 in annual contribution to keep the building on the schedule, the county could hold that money in reserve and self-fund a clean-up or limited repair after a loss. Commissioners also noted likely near-term exposures such as roof damage from hail that could cost an estimated $50,000.

K Camp described several options for lowering the countys ongoing contribution: quoting higher per-location deductibles, offering higher flat deductibles for wind/hail or all-other-perils, and the pools margin clause that provides up to a 25% buffer above the scheduled value if an appraisal proves understated. Knutson said the market currently expects larger per-location deductibles in some lines and that, "we can quote you higher deductible options so you can weigh those and present them at your next commission meeting." He also said K Camp could present the countys historical loss experience to help estimate how often higher deductibles would be triggered.

The commission did not vote to remove the Historical Society building from the county schedule. Instead it asked K Camp to prepare comparative quotes showing potential savings from higher deductibles and to clarify whether the county could apply a different deductible only to that building. K Camp agreed to provide options for the commissions next meeting.

Next steps: K Camp will prepare deductible and quote scenarios and provide historical-loss context so commissioners can compare projected premium savings with the countys likely out-of-pocket risk.