A few changes may be seen with the way officials with the Pulaski County government are insured.
The state of Indiana requires that public officials carry bond amounts as a form of financial protection to the employees as well as local governments. Changes that are anticipated to go into effect on January 1st, however, have prompted some alternations in the bonding policies offered.
Vickie Manikowski is an agent with Bennett Insurance in Winamac. They are currently handling bond insurance for the county. She says a couple of positions must now pick-up insurance.
“The County Surveyor now has to be bonded,” says Manikowski. “She was never bonded before, I don’t understand why she has to be bonded. A surety bond is to repay the county for mishandling county funds. I don’t know what kind of funds she handles, but the law says she has to be bonded.”
Pulaski County currently bonds about 30 employees who manage money in the various departments.
The County typically carries the minimum bonding insurance required by the state costing around $3-thousand each year. This year, however, a few policies are expected to be combined into a single policy.
Manikowski says there will be changes to the Prosecutor, Building Inspector, and Recycling and Transfer bonds as well.
“What I am going to do is take all those people and put it in one policy,” says Manikowski. “It won’t be any cheaper, but it will be offset by the fact that some of these bonds will be higher than what they were before.”
Bond insurance must be considered cumulative to provide adequate coverage.
The Pulaski County Council on Monday gave the okay to implement the changes in accordance with alterations in state statute.
