The Colorado Special Districts Property and Liability Pool was established in 1988 to provide special districts with general liability, casualty, auto/property damage, and public officials' liability insurance coverage as an alternative to the traditional insurance market. At the end of 2006 the Pool was providing insurance coverage for 1,035 districts with annual contributions (premiums) of $12 million.
The insurance pool has a nine-member Board of Directors, nominated by the participating district members, and appointed by the SDA Board. SDA provides staff support to the Board. The Pool provides pooled risk management, but is reinsured principally by United States Fidelity & Guaranty (Discover Re). The Pool exceeds all requirements of the Colorado Department of Insurance for capital reserves, reinsurance and claims adjustment reserves. McGriff Seibles & Williams of Oregon, Inc., serves as Broker /Administrator and County Technical Services, Inc. (CTSI) as the Claims Administrator. Under their direction, the Pool is operating smoothly and efficiently, with significantly improved coverage and services for members.
At the 2000 Annual Membership meeting of the Pool, the membership voted to expand coverage to include workers compensation coverage for participating member districts. The Pool began offering workers compensation coverage in January, 2001.
The SDA health insurance, life insurance, and short and long term disability programs continue to be provided by the Colorado Employee Benefits Trust (CEBT), administered by HRH of Colorado. CEBT is a trust covering over 16,000 employees. Benefits and coverage under the CEBT program are similar to or better than most available programs, and premium rates provided continue to be competitive, and have experienced smaller increases than most other plans.
Health insurance rates have seen remarkable increases in premiums within the past renewal period, and the CEBT program has also been faced with the largest premium increases since SDA has been a participant. These rate increases, however, are industry-wide, caused in general by pent-up pressures for cost increases by doctors, hospitals and other medical providers. A significant part of the increase has also been in the cost and usage of prescription drugs.
Deferred Compensation is a plan to assist employees in their savings program on a before-tax basis. In addition to the deferred compensation program offered for several years by Gregory and Associates, SDA also offers the deferred compensation program of Nationwide Retirement Solutions, formerly known as PEBSCO, Inc., a nationwide provider of deferred compensation programs to local government entities.
Board members and employees of special districts are eligible to participate in the Colorado State Employees Credit Union through SDA membership. There are presently 105 districts with 642 individuals participating in this program.