The Greene County supervisors got good news when Joan St Clair of MacDonald Insurance gave them the renewal rates for the county’s property, liability and workers compensation coverage. The total cost is $226 less than the current year.
The county’s liability insurance is through the Iowa Community Assurance Pool (ICAP). That premium is increasing $1,386. Workers compensation insurance is through the Iowa Municipalities Workers Compensation Association (IMWCA). The rate is based partly on how the insurance is used, with an experience modification factor applied. The county has done well with the modification factor in recent years, and it’s lower than ever for FY19 at .71. That decreases the premium $1,612, for a net savings in the insurance rate of $226.
County engineer Wade Weiss called the savings “amazing.”
In other business, the supervisors approved the abatement of past due property taxes totaling $2,953 on seven parcels. Included were the former Pizza Ranch, which is exempt now because the city of Jefferson owns it, and property near Scranton the county now owns for a secondary roads storage facility. Another abatement was because the mobile home on which the taxes were levied is so dilapidated it is not useable as a residence. Of the total, $1,957 was past due taxes owned by Herman and Clara Tripp doing business as Hi-Kalean Pig Company. The taxes were due for 2007-2011.
Weiss talked with the supervisors about having tuckpointing done on the courthouse chimney, in anticipation of installing a new heating system. He said the new boiler will most likely be used for the exhaust of the new system. He said the tuckpointing “isn’t a huge project, but like everything else, it’s been put off for a long time.”
