Nye insurance premium drops to $640,747

Nye County will spend $67,221 less in the coming fiscal year on its payments to the state public agency insurance pool due to a better claims history, County Manager Pam Webster told commissioners Tuesday.

The county will still pay $640,747, but that’s less than $707,968 in premiums paid last June for the 2012-13 fiscal year, that were higher than any year since 2005. In June 2011, the county paid $666,098 in annual premiums, in 2010 it paid $672,500.

Wayne Carlson, executive director of the Nevada Public Agency Insurance Pool was ready to answer questions by video conference in Tonopah but commissioners didn’t have any.

Carlson told the Pahrump Valley Times the Nye County loss trend was better in three of the last five years.

“So there was a trend going in the right direction,” he said.

Nye County has a $50,000 maintenance deductible. They’re covered for up to $10 million in liability.

The county’s contribution is $598,843; the agent’s commission is $41,904.

Nye County had $1.2 million in claims in 2008, which dropped to about $700,000 in 2009 and were less than $100,000 in 2012.

The state insurance pool collectively averaged $5.47 million in gross claims over 10 years, the worst year was 2008 with $17.3 million in claims. Net claims averaged $2.7 million. Some events can drastically affect the exposure of the pool, he said, like the Wells earthquake with a magnitude of 6.0 on the Richter scale that struck in February 2008.

Carlson said it would be difficult to compare Nye County premiums with other counties and cities in Nevada since there’s so many variables. Some counties have law enforcement or fire departments, some don’t. Some communities have water systems and parks, other’s don’t. Premiums also depend on how much property a government entity owns, the number of vehicles, number of law enforcement officers, number of vehicles and their deductibles, Carlson said.

Nye County payroll was over $25 million in 2010, but by 2013 is less than $20 million. The total insured value of Nye County however has risen from $100 million to just over $120 million.