By Blake Deshazo

The Selma Times-Journal

The Dallas County Commission expected to spend more money on insurance premiums for 2015 than it has in year’s past, but there’s a chance it can recoup some of that.

Dallas County commissioners approved a renewal of its insurance Tuesday through Morris Insurance Agency, with an increase from $170,000 last year to $174,000 for 2015.

“It was amazing to get [the price] within $4,000 of what it was last year,” said Probate Judge Kim Ballard.

Ballard said the county’s agent worked hard at getting the lowest price he could on insurance premiums.

The county thought it was going to have to pay more because of losses suffered from the jail.

“We had several astronomical lightning claims at the jail that fried a lot of electronics,” Ballard said.

Ballard said the Dallas County Jail is modern and features a control room that can monitor every room in the jail along with opening and closing doors.

“That stuff is extremely expensive, and [the lightning] just fried it,” Ballard said. “On the bright side, we wound up with a new system as a result of the insurance.”

Ballard said the downside was Morris planned to drop the insurance plan on the jail. Morris found a company that was willing to insure the jail with the lightning risks.

The county is currently in the process of getting lightning rods or suppressors installed at the jail.

“When we install the lightning suppressors at the jail, the policy is going to go down,” Ballard said. “I don’t know how much, but I can anticipate it is going to go down more than $4,000.”

Ballard estimated the installation of lightning suppressors will cost the county less than $10,000, and the project will end up paying for itself because of the annual savings on insurance.

“If we can cut our losses, and we have been very successful in cutting our losses, then we’ll see our premium continue to go down,” Ballard said.