Special Districts Insurance Services (SDIS)

In 1985, SDAO created a self-insured Trust, Special Districts Insurance Services Trust (SDIS), to escape the volatile traditional insurance market.  The SDIS Trust is governed by a seven-member board of trustees and operates under a Declaration of Trust.  The Trust governs through its adopted bylaws and is responsible for protecting and managing funds related to the insurance programs and developing arrangements and strategies necessary to implement the programs.  In 2014, the SDIS Trust adopted a new Declaration of Trust which is an intergovernmental agreement with districts participating in the SDIS insurance programs.

The Trust created an opportunity for members to control insurance costs by jointly pooling resources to self-insure for property, liability, auto, health, dental, and workers’ compensation coverage.  All participants in the Trust, both members and associate members, are owners of the program.  All of the equity, or surplus, belongs to the participants.  SDIS’s only objective is to provide reasonable, stable rates and broad coverage to Oregon public entities, unlike an insurance company where the profits are distributed to shareholders.