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Stewartville council keeps current municipal liability limits after insurance presentation
Summary
The council heard from Alicia Nelson of First American Insurance about the city's 2026 property and casualty renewal and voted to continue its existing tort-liability limits rather than waive statutory caps; Nelson described a mix of rate decreases and coverage increases for 2026.
Alicia Nelson, the city's insurance agent from First American Insurance, reviewed the city's 2026 property and casualty renewal and the council voted to maintain the city's current tort-liability limits.
Nelson told the council that continuing current practice would mean claimants would remain subject to the existing statutory-limit treatment: "if you do not waive the statutory limits, the individual claimant could recover no more than 500,000 on any claim," she said, and explained how that figure relates to per-occurrence coverage. After questions, a council member moved "to continue what we've been doing," a motion that was seconded and approved by voice vote.
Nelson outlined the renewal's key changes: a roughly 5% decrease in property-coverage premiums, a 10% increase in commercial auto physical-damage coverage (with no change to commercial auto liability), no change in most general-liability rates, and potential workers'compensation decreases (up to 25%) depending on payroll and claim history. She also said the League of Minnesota Cities had deferred a program-dividend decision until June 2026, and that the city could see restored dividends then.
Nelson highlighted coverage enhancements the city will see under the renewal, including increased cyber-liability limits, higher medical-pay limits (from $2,500 to $5,000 per claimant), larger demolition and debris-removal per-occurrence limits (from about $50,000 to $100,000), and expanded sewer/water-backup options for certain circumstances.
Councilors asked clarifying questions about deductible levels, sewer-backup coverage and whether there was any advantage to delaying the tort-limits decision. Nelson said she saw no benefit to waiting and recommended keeping the current approach to statutory limits while the council considers budget and project-specific exposures.
The council did not specify individual roll-call votes in the record; the motion passed by voice vote. The city's insurance agent said she would follow up with more details about program dividends in June.
