The Greene County Commission's Insurance Committee was told Wednesday that the total value set on county buildings and property, as of Sept. 12, is $184.6 million.

However, Dan Jackson, a vice president at McInturff, Milligan & Brooks, an insurance agency, who is also the county's insurance risk manager, said the list is still being revised.

Jackson said department heads will begin receiving their own lists this week, and will be asked to add any properties that are not included, and to discuss anything they think is valued incorrectly.

The purpose of the listing is to come up with appropriate replacement values.

In response to a question from County Attorney Roger Woolsey, Jackson said the county office annex on Cutler Street, where the meeting was taking place, is now valued at $1.81 million, and its replacement cost would average $89.48 per square foot.

Jackson said that when he saw that figure, he did not think it was high enough, and it will be revised. The building's contents are valued at $416,000, he said, plus another $200,000 for computers.

Jackson said the only individual piece of equipment the county owns that is now insured separately is the large "Gradeall" rubber-tired grader at the Highway Department, valued at about $125,000. That policy has a $50,000 deductible.

Woolsey said the Highway Department has several dump trucks that cost $50,000 each. He asked if it would be sensible for the county to consider individual insurance on expensive vehicles, rather than covering them with self-insurance, as at present.

Jackson said the county government has catastrophic insurance that would cover the biggest portion of a major loss that involved large numbers of trucks or school buses, for example. Jackson said that the county has covered its equipment with self-insurance since 1988 and had a good record, so far.

County Sheriff Steve Burns pointed out, however, that the deductible that departments have to pay when equipment is damaged keeps going up, and this impacts departmental budgets.

He recalled that when one patrol car wrecked into another patrol car, the $2,500 deductible the department was assessed for each vehicle negatively impacted the department's budget.

"We are not budgeted to make up the difference," Burns said, because the budget is so tight.

Jackson said this and other subjects would be revisited as the valuation goes forward. He also reported on the balance of the county government's self-insurance fund that covers buildings and liability.

He said this fund had $955,000 available "on a cash basis" at the end of July last year, but as of July 31 of this year, that balance had grown to $1.4 million. He said the main reason for the increase is that, last year, the property tax levy that goes into the county's self-insurance fund was increased from 2 cents to 3.25 cents.

Jackson said this fund's progress means "we might be able to survive another four or five years" at the current level of funding.

Sheriff Burns' motion to approve Jackson's report was approved unanimously.

The insurance committee met for several hours in closed session with the county attorney present to discuss individual claims. When the open session resumed, the committee voted to approve one claim.

In addition, Commissioner Clark Justis made a motion to ask the county attorney to write a letter to all department heads, asking them to furnish a copy of a pre-employment physical examinations, including a drug test, and a copy of a job description for each new employee that is hired. Approval was unanimous.

At the request of Budget Director David Lawing, the committee approved a motion that county department heads are instructed to follow workers compensation policies "to the letter," effective Sept. 17.

Woolsey also said the insurance committee would recommend that the Greene County Commission pass a resolution stating that employees should use accrued sick leave or vacation leave for health-care claims that involve absences not in excess of 14 days, and that the resolution allow employees to pay back into the state retirement system to cover all time off, effective on the date of passage. Approval was unanimous.