|
|
Tuesday, February 9, 2010 |
Serving Seguin and Guadalupe County since 1888
|
|
|
Marketplace
Sections
Services
Service Center
|
|
 |
|
County flood insurance rates may take a dip
Published January 8, 2009
SEGUIN — If your flood insurance premiums go down in 2009, thank Guadalupe County Road Superintendent Larry Timmermann and his crew at the road department when you see them.
Timmermann on Tuesday reported to county commissioners that Guadalupe County had been accepted for participation in the Federal Emergency Management Agency and National Flood Insurance Program’s “Community Rating System.”
Participation in the CRS program can result in reductions of up to 10 percent in flood insurance premiums for the 2,018 holders of flood insurance policies in unincorporated areas of the county.
The premiums average $640 per year for a total of close to $1.3 million annually, Timmermann said.
The average discount around the county will be $48 per policy — a total possible savings across the county of $96,000 per year, Timmermann told commissioners.
To qualify, a property must be in compliance with FEMA floodplain regulations, Timmermann said. Those eligible for the discounts don’t need to do anything, he added.
“Your insurance agent will inform you,” Timmermann said.
The CRS program grades participant communities for 18 creditable activities, organized under four categories: Public Information; Mapping and Regulations; Flood Damage Reduction and Flood Preparedness.
Those include such efforts as providing flood information through news media, preserving open space in a special flood hazard area, providing the public with access to the community’s latest flood insurance rate maps and digital maintenance of flood data.
Guadalupe County has worked for years on flooding mitigation efforts, and Timmermann said the county’s participation in the CRS program is voluntary, not required.
“We don’t have to do anything other than what we normally do except document that we’re doing it,” Timmermann said.
He learned about the program in a 2007 FEMA audit and began working toward participation as a way to save money for homeowners who must have flood insurance.
“When they came in and audited us, the results of that audit indicated we could qualify,” Timmermann said.
Guadalupe County is only the second in Texas to be certified to take part in the CRS program, Timmermann said. About 40 Texas cities now take part.
Precinct 4 Commissioner Judy Cope noted Timmermann had raised the idea more than a year ago and his office had been working on it ever since.
“It’s a very tedious process going through the due diligence involved in this,” Cope said. “It’s prestigious that we could become only the second county to take part in the program and save our taxpayers money.”
County Judge Mike wiggins noted Timmermann and his employees, with help from Emergency Management Coordinator Dan Kinsey and other county officials had taken the project on out of their own initiative.
“We weren’t required to do this, Mr. Timmermann kind of took a hold of the bull by its head on his own and went with it, and the application packet was about this thick,” Wiggins said, holding a thumb and forefinger about six inches apart. “I want to say thank you, Larry, to you and to all the others who worked with you on this.”
Share |
Save |
Mail |
Print |
Comment
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|