Town council shown at the recent online meeting. (Angela Brown/battlefordsNOW staff)

By Angela Brown

Better coverage

Town finds savings by switching insurance providers

Jan 9, 2022 | 12:18 PM

The Town of Battleford managed to find significant savings for its insurance costs for 2022 by opting for a new policy provider.

CAO Ash Alam said in his recent report to council the town was previously with SUMAssure provided by the third party agency Aon Risk Solutions. Aon also uses a fourth party, SGI Canada, for some risk management.

Alam said the cost for the town’s insurance through SUMAssure has been increasing over the years.

“Service from SUMAssure is getting challenging…,” he said. “SUMAssure was created for cost savings and better service, but we are experiencing the opposite.”

If the town stayed with Aon’s policy for 2022, the cost would be $178,913, which is a 20 per cent increase over the 2021 rate. That rise in cost would reflect about a 1.75 per cent increase to the taxpayer.

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By changing to SGI Canada, the cost to the town will be $109,798 instead, which is $69,114 less than the Aon rate for 2022.

“We can save by moving from SUMAssure to SGI Canada for the year 2022, with better coverage,” Alam said.

Council approved administration’s recommendation to cancel the town’s insurance service from SUMAssure through Aon Risk Solutions and to instead adopt the SGI Canada insurance policy provided by Westland Insurance Group Ltd. for the year 2022.

The town previously gave SUMAssure notice that it would not renew its policy for the 2022 year.

“Sixty-nine thousand dollars in our pockets is better than in somebody else’s. So that’s a great thing,” Coun. David George said of the decision to switch providers.

Coun. Alexis Christensen commended Alam and his team for their investigative work.

“It’s pretty clear that our administration has a sharp eye,” she said.

Mayor Ames Leslie noted, similar to most contracts, after a year the town always has the option to give notice to the new provider if it decides to go with someone else at that time.

“It’s nice to definitely save some money on insurance because it seems like it’s always going up,” he said.

He added that it’s great to “win one for a change, and find something a little bit less expensive.”

Angela.Brown@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @battlefordsnow