Property Insurance Premium Savings Program

About the Program

Category: Risk and Emergency Management (Best in Category)

Year: 2016

The County has reduced its property insurance premium by a cumulative 39% over four years. During the same time, its property values increased by $818 million (18%). Currently, Broward County is only paying $286,000 more for insurance than it did in 2004, when the total insured value was $2.1 billion less than it is today. By way of background, in 2012 the premium was $27,575,607 for $4,488,303,672 in values. In 2011, the premium was only slightly lower and so on through history. In 2013, the County made a radical move abandoning the old system of renewal with a single carrier opting for a fully marketed, multi-carrier solution to the property coverage. Each renewal since has produced additional savings culminating in the vastly reduced premium that we now enjoy. The departure from the former single-carrier structure was the first step. In order to be marketed effectively, the County had to reduce its Probable Maximum Loss (PML) and Average Annual Loss (AAL). This was accomplished by gaining familiarity with each property so that limited budgets for improvements could be targeted to places it would have the most impact, and then communicating these efforts to the underwriters through Construction, Occupancy, Protection and Exposure (COPE) elements.