Board hears options on excess liability renewal and rising self-insured retentions

Staff presented a renewal review for the district’s excess liability program, covering general liability, automobile liability and abuse coverage and three carrier proposals. A Gallagher representative described the market responses and the SIRs (self-insured retentions) carriers were willing to offer, noting that Old Republic would not continue the prior $100,000 SIR and proposed a $200,000 SIR while other carriers quoted $250,000 or $300,000 across the board.

"Right under there is your what we call an SIR, which is in a sense a deductible," a Gallagher presenter said during the review, explaining how SIRs determine the district’s out-of-pocket responsibility before carrier coverage applies. The presenters showed the district’s claims history (334 claims over 12 years) and highlighted recent high-severity incidents: the largest cited claim was about $303,000 and incurred costs in 2021 approached $461,000 for that year.

Board members asked how often the district had reached prior SIR levels; staff said the $100,000 SIR had been exceeded several times in recent years and that three claims in the most recent full claim year reached the SIR. Staff also reported two additional older claims remain open in litigation and would be applied to prior policy terms rather than the new renewal.

After discussion of worst-case exposure across separate coverage lines and a review of premium impacts, administration told the committee that it will move forward with presenting the Old Republic renewal (with the increased $200,000 SIR) to the full board for a formal vote on Wednesday. The committee’s direction is to prepare the agenda item reflecting the renewal terms and updated premium figures.