Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania council to vote on more expensive liability insurance – InsuranceNewsNet

April 12 – The town of Wilkes-Barre will see another increase in its law enforcement liability insurance premium – this time because it has to change insurers.

Mayor George Brown put a resolution on his agenda for the city council meeting on Tuesday that would authorize him to purchase law enforcement liability insurance from the Richmond National Insurance Company at a cost of $241,114 for the period from May 4 to August 14, 2023, an average of approximately $15,670 per month.

That’s about a 2.6 percent increase from the roughly $15,279 a month the city paid for coverage with Berkley Assurance Company.

The resolution notes that Berkley chose not to renew the policy effective May 4 because it is “exiting the market as the carrier of law enforcement liability.”

The city put out a request for proposals for coverage and only received one from Richmond.

The city saw its law enforcement liability insurance skyrocket last year, from $63,714 (about $5,310 a month) to $183,347. And that was after doubling the deductible for each claim under this policy from $25,000 to $50,000.

Bill Joyce, a partner at insurance brokerage Joyce Insurance Group, said the total increase in premiums for all policies in the city – from $517,468 to $691,000 – was mainly due to a rate of high claims, with the insurer paying approximately $2 on claims for every dollar of insurance premiums with the city.

Also on the agenda of council meetings are resolutions authorizing:

* Wilkes University’s purchase of a small town-owned piece of land near Livingston Lane.

* The temporary suspension of the ordinance prohibiting the outdoor consumption of alcoholic beverages in the public square to allow wine tasting at the Fiesta des Beaux-Arts next month.

* The purchase of a new undercover police vehicle for $42,621 through the state’s COSTARS cooperative purchasing program.

* Opened a new account at PNC Bank for Federal Hurricane Ida Disaster Funding.

* A contract with Zelenkofske Axelrod LLC to perform city audits for 2021 and 2022.

* The appointment of Dr. Raymond Joseph and the reappointments of Donna Reilly and Margaret Lovecchio to the city’s board of health.

Contact the author:

[email protected] 570-821-2110, @MocarskyCV

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