20-Year Resource Allocation Plan - City of Sunnyvale

This Sub-Fund has a reserve, Insurance Rate Uncertainty,
which provides funds for several uncertainties including
unanticipated changes in premium costs, and adjustments in
the City’s contribution costs and assists in levelizing additive
rates over the long term.
▪ Liability and Property Insurance Fund
This fund was established to separate out liability and property
insurance costs from the Employee Benefi ts and Insurance
Fund. Managing these costs in a separate fund provides better
accountability of expenditures and allows the City to recover
costs based on usage rather than on salary expenditures. Risk
Management, which is responsible for the City’s insurance
program, was transitioned by the Offi ce of the City Attorney
to the Human Resources Department effective July 1, 2008.
The Liability and Property Insurance Fund is funded
through transfers from its dependent funds rather than on
an additive rate basis. The transfers are based on liability
claims experience in recent years for liability costs and City
property valuations for property insurance related costs.
Insurance coverage is applied to the maintenance of the City’s
infrastructure and covers the City against claims such as Trip
and Fall, Vehicle Damage, and damage caused by City trees.
Currently, the City participates in a risk pool administered
by the California Joint Powers Risk Management Authority
(CJPRMA), which provides insurance over the City’s Self
Insured Retention (SIR) level of $500,000 per claim. City
staff also currently participates on the Board of Directors.
The total amount paid for liability claims under $500,000 can
vary signifi cantly from year-to-year due to the small number
of claims and has been higher than average over the past two
years. Therefore, the ten-year average of total liability claims
paid has been budgeted for long-term fi nancial planning
purposes. The reserve in this fund meets the recommended
actuarially acceptable funding level as provided in an actuarial
review of the program completed in January 2011.
Premiums for both liability and property insurance continue
to refl ect the lower rates established over the past several
years. These lower rates are primarily the result of better
than expected investment returns. However, another factor
keeping premiums lower is increased competition in the
market for these services, which is expected to keep rates at
this lower baseline level for the foreseeable future. Rates for
FY 2011/2012 have been set based on the FY 2010/2011 level
plus an expected modest increase.
▪ Dorolou P. Swirsky Youth Opportunity Fund
In August 1993, City Council accepted Dorolou Swirsky’s
intent to donate her house upon her death to provide an
endowment to specifi cally address sports, recreational, social,
cultural, and educational activities for disadvantaged youth
living in Sunnyvale.
The Dorolou Swirsky Trust Estate was donated to the City
upon her death in March 2000. The estate consisted of a single
family home located at 1133 Hollenbeck Road. Following the