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Callander’s insurance rates are on the rise
Last year’s bill was just under $146,000 and it’s going higher
Insurance costs are rising—“higher than normal”—Callander’s municipal staff noted, and the higher costs are hitting the municipal pocketbook. It’s not an issue unique to Callander, as the rates are increasing “country-wide,” noted staff, who have been researching comparable rates to prepare for the upcoming budget.
In 2020, Callander doled out $105,638 for the year’s insurance coverage. Last year, the 2022 bill rang in considerably higher at $146,022. Prepare for more increases this year, loyal taxpayer, as the 2023 bill is expected to hit $167,043, and that’s before the HST is tacked on, which adds nearly $22,000 to the total.
See related: City’s annual insurance premium jumps 16 per cent, up $188K
Mayor Robb Noon and the senior municipal director, Ashley Bilodeau, met with the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) “to express the municipality’s frustration with the increasing rates,” staff explained, and AMO has assured them that “they are working on various solutions.”
However, these solutions are not to be expected to be put in place for at least two or three years. Reasons are vague as to why insurance rates are rising so quickly, ranging from “a tight insurance market,” staff noted, to “increased litigation, increases to replacement values, the addition of impacts associated with climate change, and Ontario’s joint and several liability regime.”
“What do you do?” Mayor Noon questioned. “You either have the insurance or you don’t. You have to have insurance,” he added. “I think that’s in the best interest of the municipality.”
Municipal Insurance Services is the municipality’s insurance provider.
David Briggs is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter who works out of BayToday, a publication of Village Media. The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the Government of Canada.
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