The town’s insurer, the Connecticut Interlocal Risk Management Agency (CIRMA), recently presented First Selectman Fillmore McPherson with a check for $40,667. It is the town’s prorated share of CIRMA’s $3 million members’ equity distribution for 2013. A member-owned and governed organization, CIRMA is the state’s largest municipal insurer, providing both workers’ compensation, and liability, auto, and property coverage to its members.

Bruce A. Wollschlager, CIRMA president and CEO, said, “CIRMA has distributed a total of $9 million in equity to our members in the three years of the program. The distribution is a direct result of CIRMA’s financial strength, the investment gains achieved by our portfolio of investments, as well as our members’ efforts to reduce losses through sound risk management practices.”

The distribution comes in the form of a check rather than a premium credit. This allows towns and school districts to use the returned funds as they need, Wollschlager said. CIRMA’s program is structured so that it does not subsidize insurance rates, preserving CIRMA’s members’ability to accurately budget from year to year.

CIRMA has operated since 1980 as a service program of the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities, an association of towns and cities. CIRMA, owned and governed by its members, operates two risk-sharing pools, the workers’ compensation pool and the liability, automobile, and property pool. It provides risk management services to self-insured municipalities and local public agencies.