MISHAWAKA — Although a boost in liability insurance costs this year for the Penn-Harris-Madison School Corp. is mostly linked to property values, officials believe they are still feeling the effects of last year’s molestation-sparked litigation payout a year later.

The district’s annual premium for property, casualty and liability insurance with Indiana Insurance increased from $448,611 to $480,458 in P-H-M — about 7 percent, said Ronald Jordan, vice president of Gibson Insurance Group.

The board of school trustees last week approved the renewal, which takes effect Wednesday, associate superintendent Denise Seger said this week.

Officials believe a small part of that increase stems from the district’s litigation payout of $2.9 million last year to settle a lawsuit filed by a girl who was molested by former Walt Disney Elementary School teacher Timothy Wyllie. P-H-M spokeswoman Teresa Carroll said P-H-M has conducted sexual harassment training, an ongoing process, with most of its staff.

Still, most of the premium increase was property-related after P-H-M last September worked with American Appraisal to update the values of the corporation’s buildings. Insured building values increased from $208.7 million to $240.2 million.

The district is still below what it had to pay in premiums two years ago. P-H-M last year entered into a unique three-year rate stabilization agreement that excludes sexual misconduct, umbrella and school leaders errors and omissions coverages — which is standard, Jordan said. Rates for these areas increased 16 percent this year, which translates to $11,907 of the increase.

School leaders errors and omissions, which refers to alleged wrongful acts that a district is legally liable for, and sexual misconduct coverages have $1 million limits per occurrence, while a $10 million limit for umbrella coverage sits on top of those. On a positive note, rates for coverages included in the stabilization agreement decreased 1 percent.

Among recent property claims that remain open is a fire that a student deliberately set after school in late February in a Penn High School boys restroom. A police report was filed and the boy was disciplined, with the mostly smoke damage last estimated at around $8,000.