Politics & Government

West Deptford Changes Insurance Carriers, Saves $400K

The township committee approved a move to a Joint Insurance Fund Thursday night.

will save close to $400,000 with a switch to a Joint Insurance Fund (JIF) for property and casualty coverage for the next three years, a move that was unanimously approved by the township committee Thursday night.

The change comes after new insurance broker Anderson Jackson Metts (AJM) took the township’s coverage out for consideration, and got five offers, with Statewide Insurance Fund, a JIF that covers 73 public entities in New Jersey, beating out Traveler’s Insurance, the township’s former carrier, by the largest margin, according to AJM’s George Gravenstine.

Though Traveler’s had the contract with the township for roughly a decade, West Deptford treasurer Richard Giuliani said the township had explored moving to a JIF before, but the savings never approached the difference Statewide was offering.

Find out what's happening in West Deptfordwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The new property and casualty contract covers the township with a premium of $1.19 million, versus Traveler’s old premium of $1.58 million—a savings of $392,352.

The new coverage also offers some differences in coverage—including increases in flood and earthquake coverage, among others—according to Caroline Conboy, Statewide’s administrator.

Find out what's happening in West Deptfordwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

“I think there are a lot of improvements,” she said. “West Deptford is definitely benefiting.”

Given the school board dumped one year-to-year JIF for health insurance coverage while she was serving on that board, committeewoman Denice DiCarlo raised concerns over the term and asked if there had been considerations for the long-term trends in the Statewide fund.

“We watched it, and it was going to be very costly, so we got out,” DiCarlo said of the school board’s decision.

Committeeman Sam Cianfarini said the analysis showed the yearly rate hike for Statewide is fairly small.

“On average, the increase would be in the 1.3-percent range,” he said.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here