New Coverages for SDPAA Members By Judy Payne, Executive Director, SDPAA Enhanced Crime Coverage Recognizing Members’ needs for more crime coverage than is typically provided through Employee Dishonesty Bonds required by statute, the SDPAA has replaced its Employee Dishonesty Coverage with Enhanced Crime Coverage for its Members. As opposed to traditional individual Employee Dishonesty Bonds, this new coverage covers all employees and elected and appointed officials of our local governmental entity Members and goes beyond the types of crime covered in Employee Dishonesty Bonds, further protecting our Members. The 2015 Enhanced Crime Coverage SDPAA has purchased on behalf of Members provides a limit $1,000,000 per occurrence with no aggregate. The Enhanced Crime Coverage includes coverage for the following: j Employee Dishonesty j Forgery/Alteration (covers losses caused by a person other than employees, and forgery or alteration of financial instruments) j Inside the Premises – Theft of Money or Securities (covers losses caused by persons other than employees when loss occurs while inside your premises, inside a banking premises, or outside your premises in the care and custody of a messenger) j Outside Premises (covers loss of money and securities resulting from the actual destruction, disappearance or theft while outside the premises in the care and custody of a messenger or armored motor vehicle company) j Money Orders and Counterfeit Money (covers losses resulting directly from): x The acceptance in good faith, in exchange for merchandise, money, or services of any post office
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or express money order issued or purported to have been issued by any post office, if such money order is not paid upon presentation. x The acceptance in good faith, in the regular course of business, of counterfeit paper currency of the USA or Canada. Computer Fraud and Funds Transfer Fraud (covers loss of, or loss from damage to): x Money, securities and other property resulting directly from computer fraud. x Money and securities contained in a transfer account on deposit at a financial institution resulting directly from funds transfer fraud.
There are a variety of South Dakota statutes requiring Fidelity/Employee Dishonesty Bonds of various amounts for public entity employees, based upon the position the employee holds. The Enhanced Crime Coverage SDPAA is offering is “blanket” coverage meaning that if a Member chooses to purchase it, it covers all employees and elected and appointed officials of the local government entity. The SDML successfully worked with the 2015 Legislature for passage of a statute allowing the purchase of the blanket coverage to satisfy statutory bond requirements of local government entities. SDPAA Members who take advantage of the Enhanced Crime Coverage will see reductions in costs while increasing and broadening crime coverage. Depending on the number of employees of the entity, the cost of the Enhanced Crime Coverage is as little as $25 per year for SDPAA’s smaller Members and tops at $780 for the largest Member. These costs are considerably lower than those Members have been paying for statutory coverage while
SOUTH DAKOTA MUNICIPALITIES
