New Rating Cuts Flood Insurance Cost

SEA ISLE CITY – At the Sea Isle City City Council meeting Feb. 13, during Mayor Leonard C. Desiderio’s 2018 Budget and State of the City Address, he highlighted many of the city’s accomplishments during 2017 and pointed out one that will be of significance in 2018. The city has been upgraded in a community rating system for the National Flood Insurance Program. The Federal Emergency Management Agency, which oversees the program, has boosted Sea Isle’s community rating from Class 5 to Class 3. By moving up the ladder two steps, that means that city property owners will be eligible for a 35 percent discount on flood insurance premiums. Previously, they had received a 25 percent discount. 
More than 6,000 properties here are insured through the National Flood Insurance Program. Overall, the designation to Class 3 is estimated to save policyholders here an average of $291 annually on flood insurance premiums. Previously, the discount was $208 annually. Sea Isle City and its property owners will save a total of $1.9 million annually in flood insurance costs under the new designation. The savings had previously been $1.3 million as a Class 5 community.
Since 1993, the municipality has become one of the role models nationwide in flood protection. As a result, it has been rewarded by FEMA for its efforts with this new Class 3 designation putting it among the top 10 percent of towns in the system across the country. Sea Isle City is the only municipality in New Jersey designated by FEMA as a Class 3 community. Only a few cities and counties across the nation are considered Class 3 or higher.