School Board gets a break on insurance, for now

The St. Mary Parish School Board approved its liability insurance for the year effective Oct. 1 and will realize a slight decrease in total costs.
In all, the board unanimously agreed to pay $435,882, down from last year’s total premium of $437,453.
While the news was good in the interim, there could be signifi-cant increases on the horizon.
“Insurance carriers, for whatever reason in 2020, have started increasing rates, and it’s not small increases,” Carmel Breaux of Norris Insurance Consultants told the board, noting that 10% to 18% liability insurance premium increases have been experienced elsewhere. Breaux said St. Mary Parish is the first board she had worked with this year that hasn’t experienced an increase in its liability premiums, but they are something that likely will come next year.
In this year’s coverage, which is offered through Paul’s Agency, the total cost of general liability insurance increased slightly from $177,323 to $177,383
However, the board’s Automobile liability insurance fell slightly from $123,701 to $123,579, while among the other changes was a decrease in its Auto Physical Damage — Commercial Insurance Carrier from $114,560 to $113,044.
Changes to this year’s policy include the exclusion of fishing clubs and communicable diseases. Breaux said the communicable disease exclusion is related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“These are normal exclusions that I have seen come out this year, and all insurance carriers are putting them on their policies at this time,” she said.
However, the board learned from Breaux and Mark Lane of Paul’s Insurance Agency that there are other avenues to explore for some cov-erage of fishing teams.
Also during Thurs-day’s meeting, the board adopted its 2020-2021 operating budget.
In other action, the board:
—Ratified a withdrawal of its sales tax proposition for teacher pay raises that was on the August ballot but recently was withdrawn.
—Learned from Chief Financial Officer Alton Perry that for the first month of the fiscal year, the board collected $84,000 in sales tax over what it had budgeted.
—Approved a resolution for an application for the state bond commission to issue, sell and deliver up to $11.5 million in General Obligation School Refunding Bonds of Fifth Ward Special School District No. 1. The resolution will allow them to try to reduce their interest rates, Jason Akers of Foley and Judell said. He said it’s possible to see savings up to around $50,000 per year.
—Agreed to replace a broken 80-foot wooden football stadium light pole and fixtures at Patterson High damaged recently during a thunderstorm. The estimated cost is $38,500.