Homeowners May Face Insurance Hike

The specter of Gilmer’s ISO rating looms once again. At last week’s Board of Commissioners Meeting, Citizen Bev Sheppard resurrected the issue of the county’s ISO rating. Sheppard showed concern about losing the county’s current ISO rating of seven, which could change whenever the Insurance Service Office decides to survey Gilmer County again. In May, the county was forced to close four fire stations due to budget cuts, leaving only two open in the county. With the full six stations operational, the county’s ISO rating was seven. The seven rating reduces homeowners’ insurance in some cases by several hundred dollars. According to Fire Chief Tony Pritchett, upon next inspection the rating is likely to return to a higher rating. Inevitably, this change will raise homeowners’ insurance again, cancelling out the savings by the current rating.

During the meeting, Pritchett elaborated on the process of the survey. He explained that the Insurance Office Services hires a private company to periodically survey counties. These companies rate counties based on fire protection, water supply, and communication. According to Pritchett, this provides insurance companies with information regarding the risk factor in any given community, allowing the companies to set insurance premiums.

At last week’s meeting, Mrs. Sheppard expressed her concerns about the ISO rating to the board. She said that she would save $728 dollars on her homeowners’ insurance if the county keeps the ISO rating of seven. If it changes, she said, she stands to lose that money. Sheppard also brought up the safety issue.

“We are endangering the lives of our citizens and everyone that comes to the apple festival; I’m sure that they don’t know we only have three ambulances,”

she said. Sheppard suggested for a tax increase to remedy the problem. But, Post Commissioner 1 Will Beattie reminded Sheppard that the board had previously discussed that option and Beattie said he was uncomfortable with that alternative and added that the window to do so is closed, because the millage rate is already set. Beattie told her that the board has a plan in place, but did not disclose any details of the plan. Sheppard urged the board to put the plan in place soon as possible, stressing the safety issue. Citizen John Neele also expressed a concern about the ISO rating, suggesting something that Mrs. Sheppard said before him,

“ This is something that’s of great interest to a lot of people.”

Chairman Sanford closed the topic by lamenting the position the county has found itself in concerning the ISO rating and the fire stations.

“Hopefully,” he said, “they (ISO) will stay with the rating that we have now until we can correct our problems and get us back to the point where we were when they did the last survey.”

Hauntingly, Pritchett said that the next survey can be done at any time.