STONE HARBOR – Community Rating System (CRS) levels are of great importance in shore communities. They run on a continuum, from 9 being the worst to 1 being the best, with each rung in that ladder worth an additional 5% discount on flood insurance premiums for all property owners in the community.
Since 2014, Stone Harbor has been a level 5 community. This earned its property owners a 25% discount. The level has not moved up or down in the intervening years.
The levels are determined by activities the community undertakes to rise above the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) minimum qualifications for flood insurance.
Communities benefit through accumulating FEMA-endorsed actions that earn points. To be at level 5, Stone Harbor needed more than 2,500 credit points. The next rung up, level 4, would require more than 3,000 points.
The problem for the borough was that its CRS level 5 tier rested on the back of points with a known expiration date. Like that quart of milk in the refrigerator, the borough’s CRS level was symbolically stamped with a date when the points would disappear.
Over 900 of the points the level 5 rested on were awarded following Superstorm Sandy. They were given to encourage acceptance of Advisory Base Flood Elevation Maps. The points had a known 10-year lifespan. It appears that no plan was put in place to anticipate the loss of those points by gaining points through other means.
At a Feb. 7 Borough Council meeting, the governing body discussed the fact that the CRS level would drop from a 5 to a 7 following the expiration of the points this spring. That action would remove a 10% discount on insurance premiums.
The town approved hiring a consulting engineering firm, DeBlasio & Associates, to plot a course for new point accumulation to regain its level 5 status.
A Feb. 21 report from borough engineer Marc DeBlasio said the firm had identified enough areas where points can be earned to regain the level 5 status and shoot for a level 4. At that level, property owners would get a 30% discount.
Since 2014, the borough’s level has not budged. Recently, everyone has become aware of the impending drop due to expiring points. Worry was that it might drop as far as a level 8 before word came that level 7 will be the borough’s new home.
Faced with that news, a consultant was hired, and, in a relatively short time, enough areas of improvements were identified to possibly move to a level 4.
Whether those improvements could’ve resulted in a better score and a greater discount for the last several years is unknown. The report on what the new actions and improvements are has not yet been made public.
Contact the author, Vince Conti, at vconti@cmcherald.com.
