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Mako presents property-casualty trust review; county told poolwide rates rose about 7—12%
Summary
Mako representatives briefed Daniels County commissioners on the Property-Casualty Trust (PCT) renewal, saying the pool is facing a 7—12% baseline increase driven by insured-value growth, more employees and reinsurance market shifts; commissioners discussed law-enforcement claims, reserve-building and options to smooth future rate spikes.
Mako representatives Jason Riddle and Eric Bryson told Daniels County commissioners on April 20 that the property-casualty trust that insures many Montana counties is seeing a modest market-driven increase in premiums.
"As a pool we went up 7—12%," Jason Riddle said, explaining the rise reflects higher insured values, four added county employees and a harder reinsurance market. He and Eric Bryson emphasized that the pooled model spreads very large claims among members and that trustees have been deliberately building reserves to soften future spikes.
The presentation covered the PCT's structure and rationale: members pool premiums and buy reinsurance above a pooling point (the PCT uses a $30,000 pooling threshold). Riddle said the trust is designed to smooth costs across members: "When we have a bad year, somebody else is helping you and vice versa." He added that trustees have used reserves in the past to buy down spikes but cautioned that repeated buy-downs can raise longer-term costs if claims and utilization rebound.
Commissioners and staff pressed Mako on law-enforcement claims, which disproportionately drive loss ratios in small counties. Mako noted a recent large claim (discussed in the meeting) that pushed the county's liability loss ratio above 100% in recent years, and said vigorous claims-management and subrogation efforts are part of limiting long-term impacts.
Mako also discussed program changes that affect coverage and pricing: zoning, ethics and floodplain protections were moved into base policy language (previously endorsements), fidelity/crime coverage is reported per-employee, and the trust is piloting cyber coverage for counties that meet minimum cyber controls. On cyber, Mako cautioned that many counties currently lack multifactor authentication and other baseline protections, so participation will be staged and priced accordingly.
Why it matters: Daniels County faces the same market forces as peer counties; the trustees' decisions about when and how much reserve money to use directly affect members' future premiums and the county budget. Commissioners asked Mako to return with more granular local loss-run data and implementation options for cyber and law-enforcement risk mitigation.
What happened next: Commissioners acknowledged the presentation, asked staff to follow up with Mako on county-specific loss runs, and filed the renewal materials for consideration at a special meeting scheduled to approve benefit renewals.
