Shortly after the Finance Committee met to talk about the change of insurance brokers for the city of Shreveport, Mayor Adrian Perkins issued this statement:

Matt Parker
Matt Parker
loading...

"I changed the City’s insurance agent to save the citizens of Shreveport money and inject competition and fairness into the process."

  • The new agent has saved taxpayers $18,000 in premiums to date. The previous broker charged the city additional fees on top of commission. These fees totaled $70,000. Thus far the new broker has saved Shreveport $88,000.
  • He anticipates $55,000 to $60,000 in additional savings in premiums by April.
  • The change cuts costs because the new agent isn’t charging additional fees.
  • The city pays $26.6 million in insurance premiums each year. These premiums cover health benefits and property and casualty.
  • The new agent handles the City’s property and casualty insurance which is about $3.18 million.  That is only 12% of total premiums.
  • The previous broker, Gallagher, still covers our health benefits, amounting to 88% of the City’s insurance business or about $23.4 million in premiums.
  • Minority participation in the City’s insurance business has been 0% for almost 40 years.
  • The new broker, Mr. Rodrelle Sykes, is the city’s first minority agent in decades, but his 12% of the City’s business falls far short of our 25% minority participation goal.

The statement says the Mayor acted in accordance with City and State law, and ethics.

But some of these facts are still in dispute.  Councilman John Nickelson sent KEEL News his analysis of what has transpired:

1
loading...

Nickelson added:

2
loading...

This story is far from over.  Nickelson is asking the council to approve a measure to require council approval before any such changes are made in the future.

More From News Radio 710 KEEL