It’s one thing for a homeowner to get a break on an insurance bill, but quite another for an entire community to qualify for lower premiums, but that is one of the benefits offered through the National Flood Insurance Program’s Community Rating System, or CRS.
CRS recognizes and rewards communities that exceed minimum floodplain management requirements. Participating communities earn credits by taking action to better manage risk in categories such as public information, warning systems, technical mapping and floodplain regulation.
With flood insurance premiums on the rise, more communities are looking for ways to save money and reduce the risk of flooding in the process.
“We are seeing an uptick in interest from communities in our six-state region,” said FEMA Region VIII CRS coordinator Barbara Fitzpatrick. “Currently, we have 82 communities enrolled in CRS – up six in the past two years – and we have two more communities coming on board Oct. 1, 2015.”
The City of Spearfish, S.D., is one such community, having joined CRS in 2014. “Although we had to do a fair amount of work in order to qualify for the program, we’re glad the city is a participant and recognize that this will have communitywide benefits as we earn credits,” said Spearfish Floodplain Administrator Tonya Vig.
Under the CRS ratings scale of 1 to 10, the lower the score, the higher the discount. Class 1 requires the most credit points and provides the largest flood insurance premium reduction (45 percent), while Class 10 means that either the community does not participate in the CRS or has not earned the minimum credits to receive a premium reduction.
The bottom line is that CRS rewards community initiative and promotes public safety. Residents and businesses receive a discount on their insurance payments, while at the same time flood risk is reduced, resulting in safer, more resilient communities. Premium savings represent money that stays in the local economy, another benefit to individuals and the whole community.
For more information about the Community Rating System, visit the NFIP’s website at https://www.floodsmart.gov/floodsmart/pages/crs/community_rating_system.jsp