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Planning staff outline FEMA Community Rating System and how new flood maps affect insurance costs
Summary
City planning staff presented the voluntary FEMA Community Rating System (CRS), estimating modest discounts on federally backed flood insurance but warning that updated flood maps and an ongoing flood mitigation project could reduce the program’s local benefit.
Ithaca planning staff on Friday summarized the FEMA Community Rating System and presented a cost‑benefit analysis showing the city could likely qualify for CRS Class 8 or 9 — producing roughly 5–10% discounts on federally backed flood insurance premiums for policyholders — but that those savings may be small compared with staff time required to administer the program.
The Community Rating System (CRS) is a voluntary FEMA program that awards participating municipalities points for activities such as recordkeeping, public outreach, higher regulatory standards, infrastructure projects and open‑space preservation. Sam Quinn Jacobs, a planner in the city’s planning and development office, told the Neighborhood Investment Committee that CRS builds on the National Flood Insurance Program and “only offers discounts on federally backed flood insurance.”
Why it matters: FEMA has released updated flood maps that will change which properties are mapped in the 100‑year floodplain. Properties mapped…
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