By T. Scott Boatright
Trying to ensure parish employees and property are properly insured was the subject of two motions passed during a special Lincoln Parish Police Jury meeting held Tuesday at the Lincoln Parish Courthouse.
During the meeting the LPPJ also adopted a resolution authorizing the filing of an application with the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development for a transportation grant and also authorizing Police Jury President Glenn Scriber to execute any documents relating to that matter.
Parish Treasurer Michael Sutton explained the DOTD resolution to the jurors.
“This is a routine action that’s handled annually,” Sutton said. “This will be the first time the new jurors will be seeing this. This relates to the transportation portion of the HELP agency. So, each year they have to have the contract executed by the governing body in regard to the DOTD grant program that they have.
“That averages probably a couple of hundred thousand dollars in that program alone, so we definitely need to take action on it.”
The LPPJ also voted to renew property and general liability insurance from Forth Insurance and group health insurance from Thomas Farr & Agency, Inc.
Forth Insurance President Randy Graham told jurors that out of 18 responses out of 27 bid requests sent out, Travelers once again was the best option for the parish.
“For the last several years we’ve been with Travelers and Travelers is by far from a standpoint of not only coverage but also from a premium standpoint the best company you can be with at this point.”
Graham said there will be a rise in the rate from last year because of the drastic ongoing increase in construction costs that has happened in recent years.
“Mainly they’re looking at what it would cost today to replace a Police Jury building,” Graham said. “What it would cost to work on Highway 33 and the facilities out there. What would it take to replace the old Temple Church (now a LPPJ Annex)? What would it cost to replace the roofs?”
Graham said assessments are still being done but that he would know by the end of the year what the increase will be, adding that the costs of insurance in Lincoln Parish is significantly less than the part of the state below Alexandria that is more likely to be affected by severe weather on a widespread basis..
“It may be 10%, it may be 12%, it may be 8%, but there will be an increase that goes into this because of the inflation side,” Graham said.
Ernest Finch of Thomas & Farr, Inc. had good news for jurors.
“The short of it is, the renewal from United Healthcare came back at a 9.9% increase,” Finch said. “So that was the initial talk. But basically, because of the history you guys have and the healthcare — the health of the group — they’re willing to offer a flat rate. No change going into the new year.
“That’s because of the staff you have here, and the pro-healthiness measures you take.”
Finch said that dental insurance Guardian Insurance and vision insurance from United Healthcare would also have no rate increases for 2025.
As far as the retiree plan, Finch said there will be a small rate increase.
“They are going to see an increase on theirs and that’s due to governmental regulation,” Finch said.
Finch said that governmental regulation triggering the rate increase was because previously after a certain amount of money had been paid by insurance for covered drugs, the insured party had to pay all costs out-of-pocket for prescriptions up to a yearly limit, but that the new regulations no longer allow for that, hence the slight rate increase.
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