BURLCO JIF releases 700K dividend among 26 towns
Medford to receive more than $100,000 in funds, an increase from last year
Twenty-six towns will share a $700,000 dividend released by the Burlington County Municipal Joint Insurance Fund, marking a $100,000 increase from last year.
The BURLCO JIF allows towns to pool resources to get insurance coverage for workers compensation, liability, property and cyber insurance. It also saves Burlington County taxpayers millions of dollars in insurance premiums.
“When we send out a notification that a town is getting a surplus, they get three options,” BURLCO JIF Deputy Executive Director Paul Forlenza said. “They can take a check from the fund, they can take it as a credit against next year’s assessment, or they can make resolution to keep it on account with the JIF.”
Forlenza also said the town government could also opt for a combination of all three.
“Three years down the road, they might have a hole in their budget, or maybe their budget is going up more than they anticipated,” Forlenza said. “If they have that money with us, they can then utilize funds as a credit to offset that increase.”
Medford Township received the largest portion of the funds at $115,299. The township plans to use its share to offset the costs of the current year’s premium, according to Municipal Clerk Katherine Burger.
Burger also stated this is an increase in the amount of money they’ve received in the past from the annual funding.
Forlenza noted the increase from last year indicates the funds are performing well.
“We start to liquidate more as the fund continues to perform well. If it wasn’t, we wouldn’t release as much surplus because we’d need it to fall back on,” Forlenza said.
The JIF’s budget for 2018 showed a 2.77 percent decrease, indicating a commitment to safety and risk management among its members.
According to Forlenza, this means the actuary, who comes up with the anticipated loss funding portion, sees good trends, fewer claims, effective management with claims and strong risk management and safety programs in place that eliminate potential claims.
The amount of money each town will receive through the BURLCO JIF is not loss-sensitive, and depends solely on their proportion of the overall budget, Forlenza explained. For example, if a town contributes 10 percent of the overall assessment, they’ll receive 10 percent, regardless of whether they had more claims.
While the BURLCO JIF returns dollars to members that aren’t spent on claims, their JIF competitors, on the other hand, carry higher overhead or bill their members additional assessments.
Forlenza explained that for a municipality to apply for a joint insurance fund with BURLCO JIF, it must put forward a written application outlining the number of employees, volunteers, properties, automobiles and things the JIF will be insuring on its behalf.
In addition, a representative from the safety office will perform a loss control visit, reviewing the town’s exposures and filing a loss control report, outlining for deficiencies in playground equipment, places that need attention or other types of maintenance, according to Forlenza.
