Town insurance sees dramatic rise for 2024

In 2024 the town of Chester will be pay significantly more for its insurance. At the January 24 town board meeting, Supervisor Brandon Holdridge announced that he had recently met with the Reis Group, the town’s insurance broker, which informed him that the cost for town insurance renewal would increase to $403,000 in 2024, compared to only $261,000 in 2023. However, after a review of the numbers, the broker agreed to reduce their brokerage fee by about $22,000, bringing the final overall cost to $381,112.

Holdridge claimed that the losses incurred through town lawsuits were partially to blame for the cost increase. Among the most impactful were a gender discrimination suit from 2019, The Greens of Chester lawsuit from 2019, and the Marie Denardo wrongful eviction suit from 2020. Holdridge also claimed that the reason for the delayed estimate was due to a lack of action by the former supervisor to schedule the renewal with the insurance firm before leaving office.

Holdridge went on to explain that although the town explored several options, including finding a separate insurance carrier, and going on a payment plan to mitigate the tax hit, the board ultimately decided that the best course of action was to pay the cost in full by the mid-February due date. This means that some $120,000 of taxpayer money will now be allocated to insurance fees.

Holdridge noted that the Reis Group additionally informed him that town insurance fees are expected to return to a more manageable rate by next year, as insurance companies only look into the prior five years of a town’s history.

To bring down insurance costs in the future, the board is taking preventive measures to limit the possibility of major insurance claims. Holdridge said that the board plans on establishing a safety committee, which would review policy across a number of town departments, and show insurance carriers that Chester is taking steps to reduce accidents and equipment failures going forward.

Other business

During public comment, one resident asked the board to consider drilling a new well in the Sugar Loaf Hill water district. The concerned party claimed that the current well water has been contaminated with E. coli since 2018 and is made safe to drink via a chemical process. The board said it would be willing to look into drilling a new well, though one member noted that the expansive wetlands that occupy the town-owned property in Sugar Loaf can make it difficult to drill for well water, as the DEC apparently frowns upon drilling in protected wetlands.

Finally, Paul Ellis a local theater director and producer who runs the Orange County Short Play Festival, asked permission from the board to hold the three-day festival at the Sugar Loaf Performing Arts Center this August. He additionally sought permission to hold a Halloween fundraiser this coming October to raise funds for the following year’s short play festival. The festival gives Hudson Valley theater artists an opportunity to showcase their talents in a professional capacity. The board unanimously passed Ellis’s request to waive the venue fee for the August festival.