Posted On: May 13, 2008, 11:38 am CDT

Posted By: independent broker again

What you say about audits is very nice in theory. I can remember (albeit, a number of years ago) where an error was made by the SIF auditor. It was a decimal point error amounting to a few thousand dollars to the SIF's benefit. The response we and the insured got was, "Pay the audit premium and then you can dispute it."

I have also seen, again, in years past, when there were credits from audits and instead of actually returning premiums, they were merely applied to the future. Regualr companies couldn't get away with that.

I admit that the Fund has an important place in NY, but it has gotten far too independent and needs stronger oversight. I have also had occasion where SIF employees who were extremely difficult to understand due to foreign accents, had attitudes such that they knew they were civil service employees and therefore did not have to be as sensitive as people at companies where their income depended on their companies' success.