It’s going to be a costly year for insurance here with rates jumping to $241,292 (plus tax).
On Feb. 15, councillors approved the municipal insurance rate increase by the Frank Cowan Company Limited for a one-year period.
Mayor George Bridge quipped that it is “a hard number to get out.”
When it came to discussion around the table, councillor Ron Elliott said, “I guess it’s a necessary evil.”
Bridge added, “unfortunately insurance rates keep rising, and we’ve discussed it with our insurance companies.”
He said there should be a way to bring this to the provincial government to find ways to reduce municipal liabilities.
“If this continues, it will be very hard on all municipalities.”
Councillor Rick Hembly added if he is not mistaken, the biggest portion of this year’s increase was related to liability.
“It definitely was liability,” responded Bridge.
Treasurer Gord Duff said “roughly $30,000 of this year’s $32,000 increase is for liability.”
Duff added that property insurance did not change and auto insurance went up $1,100.
“This is definitely a liability driven increase,” he said. “As our insurance agents were saying, our increases are lower than average. So our Minto specific factors are actually better than average.”
Councillor Mary Lou Colwell added there are very few companies that provide insurance to municipalities.
When asked if council is in favour of the increase, there was a bit of hesitation, before the resolution was adopted.
