Year 2022 in Review: The Rainy Day Times Two
By: Dave Pfeifle, SDPAA Executive Director
This year Mother Nature showed us her awesome destructive power in the form of two massive convective storm events: a May 12 east river derecho followed exactly one month later by a June 12 west river hailstorm. These two storm events impacted eighty (80) SDPAA Members from across the state, resulting in property losses or damages of an estimated $11 million. The “rainy day” arrived times two this year. SDPAA Members were prepared to “weather” these storms thanks to decades of financial prudence by the SDPAA’s Board of Directors and their 452 fellow local government Members. The SDPAA maintained a sufficient net position to cover these losses as well as meet all other outstanding obligations. Besides local governments, other people and entities within these communities suffered similar losses. These losses placed great stress on the private insurers who covered these same storms for others, testing the financial health of their organizations. Some private insurers were in danger of closing their doors because of these two storm events. Thanks to a solid net position, SDPAA Members had sufficient funds for these rainy days.
The costs from such storm events are both immediate and long-term. The SDPAA Board of Directors authorized the use of $1.5 million of the SDPAA’s net position to lessen the impact of rising reinsurance premiums on SDPAA Members. The SDPAA Board can make targeted uses of net position to uphold the SDPAA’s mission to provide outstanding coverages at affordable, stable rates to its local government Members in South Dakota. The SDPAA enjoys a solid financial footing and is nationally recognized as a premier public entity pool for its governance and financial practices. The SDPAA’s solid financial footing is confirmed each year by an independent financial audit. The last eight years of those audits are posted on the SDPAA’s website at sdpaaonline.org under the “About Us” tab, then click on Financial & Board Information. The links to the last eight years of the SDPAA’s Annual Reports are also posted on that web page.
In 2022 the SDPAA Board of Directors witnessed the departures of Cindy Brugman and Yvonne Taylor. Cindy is the Auditor for Codington County and has been honorably serving her community for over three decades. She always has a smile on her face and a helpful suggestion at every turn. It was a pleasure to work with her these last several years. Yvonne and I met as interns during the 1991 SD Legislative Session when we were just beginning our careers in public service. Her contributions to local government are immeasurable and we all benefitted from her insights. We will miss both of these great public servants! We expect Yvonne to be a “failure” in her retirement by continuing to serve local governments in another capacity.
This past summer Jerry Krambeck retired from the SDPAA after two decades of service to our Members. Jerry discovered over the summer he is a failure at retirement and has rejoined the SDPAA team on a part-time basis. He wanted to continue assisting SDPAA Members with their public service mission. We will reap the rewards of his failure!
If your organization wants to reap the rewards SDPAA membership can provide, please contact the SDPAA at 800-658-3633 option 2 or by email at sdpaa@sdmunicipalleague.org. to inquire about all the services available to SDPAA Members.
