COLUMN: Be aware of flood insurance program changes

The changes to the national flood insurance program community rating system are starting to be reflected in flood insurance rates.

The Community Rating System guiding document created by FEMA has been updated with a 2021 addendum and is available at https://bit.ly/3aaJaJe. This document along with the companion CRS 2017 -available at https://bit.ly/3iAd91O - explain the insurance ratings to the general public.

The Coordinator's Manual spells out the credits and credit criteria for community activities and programs that go above and beyond the minimum requirements for participation in FEMA's National Flood Insurance Program. The Coordinator's Manual explains how the CRS operates, how credits are calculated, and what documentation is required, and also acts as guidance for communities in enhancing their flood loss reduction and resource protection activities. The CRS includes a list of items and activities the city adheres to and documents. A CRS Specialist then reviews the documentation and assigns points for each activity through a complex set of formulas.

If you skim through the first few pages, you see that the average individual cannot do much to lower the rating.

The NFIP is not only raising rates on individual policies they are at the same time making it more difficult for communities to achieve discounts on these policies for their residents.

A homeowner's personal insurance agent may be able to provide specifics for an individual property owner to improve their own situation.

The website https://www.fema.gov/flood-insurance/risk-rating, has a lot of information to help with understanding the changes.

The city's Building Department brought in an outside consultant several years ago to review our CRS activities and provide recommendations for any improvement possible in our CRS rating.

The result of this review was that we were able to move up to a Class 5 rating resulting in the 25% discount.

Since that time the NFIP has rewritten the CRS Manual removing some activities or reducing points on others. For example, CRS points for making certain information available on the internet has been reduced or eliminated due to the fact that internet utilization is no longer considered an additional activity since it is now the basis for most communication.

The city of Punta Gorda has been granted a Class 5 rating. The Class 5 achievement as well as our ability to sustain it reflects positively on the accomplishments of all of the divisions in the city that contribute to that rating as well as our coordination and documentation of those efforts.

The city will continue to work with our CRS specialist to take advantage of every feasible opportunity to enhance our rating.

I encourage residents to review the links provided to gain a full understanding of the changes being enacted.

Readers may reach City Manager Greg Murray at [email protected] or by calling (941) 575-3302.