TO: Pete Yauch, P.E., Director of Public Works

TO: Pete Yauch, P.E., Director of Public Works

THROUGH: Jan R. Herbst, P.E., Director of CIP & Production; Jim Collins, P.E., Division Engineer; Ivan Fernandez, P.E., Division Director

FROM: Michael P. Maroney, P.E., CRS Coordinator, Public Works

SUBJECT: FEMA/CRS Class Rating Improvement

DIST: Larry G. Goldman, Bureau Director, BDRS; Heather Doherty, BDRS; John Segrete, BDRS; David Walker, Planning; Sharla Becker, PW Operations; Sally Bishop, Emergency Management Director; Charles Gibson, Chief Land Surveyor

DATE: December 11, 2009

We have received very good news from our ISO/CRS Specialist who works with us administering the Community Rating System (CRS) program through FEMA. This program provides benefits in policy premium reductions to communities. We have been a member of the CRS program since 1992. Since then, we have been rated as a Class 8 community which allows for a 10% premium reduction for all properties within the Special Flood Hazard Area (SFHA). This relates to properties within “A” and “V” Zones (i.e. high flood potential) and where, generally, all properties with home mortgages must acquire flood insurance. The other zones (“B” and “X”) can purchase optional flood insurance, and the Class 8 designation allows for a 5% policy premium reduction for these properties. The good news we just received is, due to a team effort between Public Works, Planning, and Building/Development Review Services, we have improved our rating to a Class 7. This relates to an additional 5% premium reduction for all properties in the SFHA and the total reduction to 15%. There is no additional reduction for non-SFHA policies, however the total impact of the savings is calculated below: (Excerpted from our recent Community Assistance Visit Report prepared by Robert Durrin of FEMA)

Current policies in effect for “A” and “V” Zones 25,782

Total policy premium for “A” and “V” Zones $15,830,304

Average policy cost for these areas $614.00

Current average policy savings for CRS 8 Rating $61.40

Additional average policy savings for CRS 7 Rating $30.70

Total policy savings for CRS 8 Rating $1,583,030

Additional policy savings for CRS 7 rating $791,515

As shown, the policy holders of Pinellas County save an additional $791,515 per year as of this improvement in class. This rating will remain in force for the next five years. However, should we continue to improve to a Class 6, our premium savings can improve another 5% and continue as shown on the attached table taken from the FEMA website.

Policy Premium Reductions for Class Ratings

The table below shows the credit points earned, classification awarded, and premium reductions given for communities in the NFIP CRS.

Credit Points / Class / Premium Reduction
SFHA* / Premium Reduction
Non-SFHA**
4,500+ / 1 / 45% / 10%
4,000 – 4,499 / 2 / 40% / 10%
3,500 – 3,999 / 3 / 35% / 10%
3,000 – 3,499 / 4 / 30% / 10%
2,500 – 2,999 / 5 / 25% / 10%
2,000 – 2,499 / 6 / 20% / 10%
1,500 – 1,999 / 7 / 15% / 5%
1,000 – 1,499 / 8 / 10% / 5%
500 – 999 / 9 / 5% / 5%
0 – 499 / 10 / 0 / 0
*Special Flood Hazard Area
**Preferred Risk Policies are available only in B, C, and X Zones for properties that are shown to have a minimal risk of flood damage. The Preferred Risk Policy does not receive premium rate credits under the CRS because it already has a lower premium than other policies.The CRS credit for AR and A99 Zones are based on non-Special Flood Hazard Areas (non-SFHAs) (B, C, and X Zones). Credits are: classes 1-6, 10% and classes 7-9, 5%.Premium reductions are subject to change.

This is the first Class improvement we have accomplished. It was attainable due to the hard work of the team involved with FEMA and ISO in developing the annual report and working to improve our rating. The actual rating points are determined to be 1779 for this cycle as described in the attached letter from ISO. The previous rating (2008) was 1660. As you can see, we qualified for the Class 7 rating last year, but we had to mitigate four violations which we have done. So we improved 119 points on this year’s rating. Another 218 points will get us to the level of Class 6. It is our intention to work on that goal with the program. Again, this would not have been possible without the dedicated assistance. The following individuals provided valuable assistance in this endeavor:

Larry G. Goldman, Heather Doherty, John Segrete – BDRS

David Walker – Planning

Sharla Becker – PW OPS (They were particularly impressed with Agile Assets record keeping)

Sally Bishop – Emergency Management

Charlie Gibson – PW Survey

With continued support, we will strive to continue our improvement in ratings and continued policy premium reductions for Pinellas County homeowners.