Pooler homeowners to receive lower insurance premiums

Dec. 09--Homeowners in the city of Pooler will soon see a drop in their insurance premiums.

The city's Insurance Services Office, or ISO, rating was upgraded from a Class 6 to a Class 3/9. The ISO system is used to rate how well fire departments serve their areas and calculate homeowner insurance costs. It ranges from 1 to 10, with 1 being the best rating.

Pooler's new rating will become effective on March 1.

Some homeowners can expect to see as much as a 40 to 50 percent decline in their insurance premiums, depending on their insurer, home value and other factors, said Pooler fire Chief Wade Simmons, who announced the news at last Monday's city council meeting and received a round of applause from officials.

"It will be a significant decrease in insurance policies," Wade said following the meeting. "I know we've had some people whose insurances have gone up $1,700, $1,800, $3,000 or $4,000 per year."

Lower insurance rates was one reason residents of two subdivisions off Quacco Road asked the Chatham County Commission more than a year ago to move them from Southside Fire/EMS' fire district to the closer Pooler district. The commission approved the change in October.

ISO notified the city of its rating's upgrade in a letter dated Nov. 25.

A private, New Jersey-based company, ISO provides property/casualty insurance data on a community's fire suppression capabilities for thousands of departments across the country.

It issues a rating following a scheduled inspection. The lower the rating, the cheaper insurance premiums typically are for homeowners.

Ratings are based on the review of the fire department's personnel and operations, local water supply and the area's emergency communications systems.

Pooler has spent the past five years working to improve its ISO rating, which experienced a two-point bump from a 4 to 6 a couple years after Wade became chief in 2008. Wade cited leadership changes and extraordinary population growth for the unfavorable rating. He said city services had failed to keep pace with the growth.

Since then, the department has grown from 16 to 45 employees. Six more firefighters will be added with the city's recently approved funding in its 2014 budget. Also, two fire stations have been built and a fifth is expected to open by the middle of next year off Jimmy DeLoach Parkway on land donated by a developer.

"We've been working hard," Wade said.

Mayor Mike Lamb said the positive insurance rating is an added bonus to homeowners, who also received property tax relief when the council voted in July to decrease the city's millage rate.

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