Jefferson County won’t reveal insurance costs

Insurance brokers want to see if they can earn some business and save Jefferson County money on its insurance costs, but are struggling to get the numbers from the county to prove it.

A.J. Argyle and Travis Argyle of American Insurance Services have both been working in the insurance industry for years. They regularly work with municipal governments to propose and create cost effective insurance plans. If they can get a better plan for public employees, it’s a win-win-win for their companies, public employees and taxpayers, they said.

“We picked up business from Fremont County. We actually moved that from their current broker and we were able to save them $35,000,” said A.J. “So we knew that they were overpaying for their commissions so we wanted to take a look at Jefferson County and bid them as well.”

So the Argyles went before Jefferson County commissioners to ask the county how much it is paying in insurance costs, including how much it is paying the current broker.

“Unfortunately they did not allow us to do so, and they still haven’t given us the information to do so,” said A.J. “We were told we were going to be given that information in the March 9 minutes, and as of June now we still were not given that information.”

A.J. said that’s when he submitted a public records request. The county did give back some information, but refused to share how much it’s paying in insurance costs. County Prosecuting Attorney Robin Dunn said in a commissioner meeting that it is proprietary or private information.

“The most frustrating part has been the fact that they’re a public entity,” said Travis. “They’re not willing … to give out public information that is supposed to be for public citizens.”

Jefferson County is the only county in the area that wouldn’t share the information. Fremont, Madison and Bonneville counties all shared their numbers and each pays its respective insurance broker $9 to $10 per public employee. A.J. believes Jefferson County could be paying as much as three times that amount based off what Fremont County saved when it switched from the same broker Jefferson County has now.

“We’d hope they’d just let us take a look at it. They’ve told us they were going to give us a chance to bid. After all this, I don’t know if they’re going to give us the opportunity. Maybe they will maybe they won’t,” A.J. said. “We really just wanted to expose those commissions and hopefully lower those commissions for the taxpayers in Jefferson County, which we are one.”

Local News 8 and Eyewitness News did speak to Jefferson County’s current broker over the phone briefly. He said that it’s a lot more complicated than it appears, and says that while Jefferson County’s numbers are higher, they include several areas of insurance coverage and ultimately save the county thousands of dollars in the long run.