St. Johns County is re-thinking the way it spends your tax dollars and asking providers of property insurance, workers’ compensation and inland marine insurance policies to re-bid for the county’s business.
County Risk Manager Sarah Taylor, said the county handles risk management in-house and sent out a Request for Proposal asking insurance agencies to submit bids on the policies.
“It hasn’t happened in a while, which is why we are doing this,” Taylor said. “We will go with the company that writes a line of insurance that is the lowest bidder and the best plan.”
The three insurance policies are currently handled by the Thomson Baker insurance agency.
Taylor said the county has hired Siver Consultants to help them determine the best policy.
Taylor said the Risk Management department acted on a directive from County Commission Chairman Tom Manuel.
“We had been looking into it prior to [the directive],” she said. “We are looking to save money everywhere we can find it.”
Manuel estimated the county can save between $3 million and $5 million by re-bidding the three insurance policies.
He said he read a report from the St. Johns County School Board, which earlier this year asked agents to submit new bids for the School District’s property and liability insurance coverage.
Conley Weiss, chief financial officer for the School District, said the district had saved $800,000 this year.
“As soon as I saw the School Board report, I asked the County to look into it,” said Manuel.
The School Board report noted the district had used the same firm to provide insurance consultant and broker services for more than 20 years for its property and liability insurance coverages, which included student accident and workers’ compensation.
According to Taylor, the bidding process ends this week and she is not yet sure how much money the county will save.
The premiums up for renewal total $3.8 million.
Doug Timms, budget manager for the county, said the county was also looking for alternate ways of being more cost effective.
“We are hoping for some sort of innovative bids that will achieve satisfactory insurance with significant cost savings,” said Timms.
Taylor hopes to have something in place before the start of the new fiscal year.
“We plan to recommend to the board a successful proposal on an insurance provider and award the bid by Oct. 1,” she said.
