NATCHEZ — Adams County supervisors renewed the county’s general, property and auto liability insurance Wednesday at a cost of $198,851 per year.

Johnny Byrne of Byrne Insurance Agency presented three options Wednesday including Travelers Insurance, at a cost of $198,851, One Beacon at $220,000 and the Mississippi Association of Supervisors Insurance Trust at $155,080.

One Beacon had been the county’s provider until two years ago when the county switched to Traveler’s due to cost, Byrne said. Traveler’s quote increased from approximately $192,000 per year.

While MASIT was approximately $42,000 cheaper than Traveler’s, Byrne said a caveat existed — the Traveler’s quote is locked in.

MASIT’s quote could increase depending on the trust’s financial resources to pay for claims for all of the counties it represents.

MASIT represents approximately 50 counties around the state, including some of the coastal counties.

Supervisor David Carter said a hurricane could potentially break the approximately $3.5 million the trust has in reserve.

Byrne said two years ago — the last time the trust submitted a proposal to Adams County — MASIT was not covering hurricanes, but he did not know if the company expanded to include them now. Byrne said, however, 14 $250,000 claims around the state would deplete the trust’s reserves.

If the reserves are depleted, Byrne said the rates could go up mid-year.

“I’m not saying there is anything wrong with an insurance pool, but it is a gamble,” he said. “(MASIT) will be going into its fourth year, and they are headed in the right direction.”

Board President Mike Lazarus said the feeling from the board was to allow MASIT to continue growing before potentially buying into the insurance trust.

“It’s different if the big claim is ours, and we have to pay,” Lazarus said. “If something happens somewhere else, you could end up paying for other counties.

“I don’t know how comfortable I am being responsible for all 50 counties.”

Counting the Adams County Sheriff’s Office, the combined claims for the county over the last five years have been approximately $1.2 million, County Administrator Joe Murray said.

NOVA covers the sheriff’s office at a rate of approximately $100,000, Byrne said.

Traveler’s and MASIT offered $75,127 and $50,020, respectively, for law enforcement coverage.

Law enforcement insurance does not have to be renewed until March, and Byrne said he expected NOVA would be cheaper by then, as a year with $500,000 in claims will move out of the three-year cycle by the time of the renewal.Byrne said the sheriff’s office has been trending in a better direction since then.

Lazarus said the board would consider sheriff’s office liability insurance in March.