Recent years have not been easy for the Association of County Commissioners of Oklahoma (ACCO) as the organization works to make sure all counties have sufficient liability insurance.

But because of recent payouts stemming from lawsuits, in particular, counties are going to have to chip in additional funds to return the state to compliance, an integral requirement of insurance companies who might consider insuring counties.

District 3 Sequoyah County Commissioner Jim Rogers, who returned from a recent ACCO meeting, told his colleagues at the commissioners’ weekly meeting that the county will need to come up with an additional $100,000 for the ACCO coffers to achieve compliance and eligibility for insurance.

“You’re familiar with all the lawsuits and jail stuff,” Rogers said to begin his report. “They (ACCO) had to do a one-time assessment because insurance wouldn’t re-insure us. So what they did, they looked at all the lawsuits for the past five, six, seven years and did an assessment. We’ve (ACCO) got to fill a gap of $10 million to get us back to where we need to be to be compliant, and hopefully get somebody to reinsure us.”

Then the other shoe fell.

“Our part’s going to be around $100,000,” Rogers said. “They base it on the accidents we’ve had and claims that we’ve had, and that’s how they come up with our part.”

But the $100,000 for Sequoyah County is better than some other counties.

“Our neighbor in Le-Flore County, they’re going to get hit for about $600,000, they had pretty large lawsuits, and Ottawa County did.”

In 2023, a federal jury awarded a payment of $33 million to the family of an inmate who died in Ottawa County Jail.

“Now the taxpayers are paying for what they didn’t do. In a big way,” Watts pointed out in 2024. For each of Oklahoma’s 77 counties, attorney fees and lawsuit expenses are paid from each county’s $2 million insurance policy through ACCO. Anything left on the policy goes toward the judgment, while the county is responsible for payment beyond the $2 million cap.

Sequoyah County’s bill for liability and property insurance protection is $351,127 for the current fiscal year, which ends June 30, 2025.

When it comes to minimum jail standards, Sequoyah County is “pretty much compliant,” Rogers said, then received confirmation from Sheriff Larry Lane and Undersheriff Charles House.

“We’re just trying to eliminate all these lawsuits that are coming out of the jail,” Rogers said.