Community Rating System

ABOUT

In 1990, the NFIP implemented a voluntary incentive program to recognize and encourage community floodplain management activities that exceed the minimum NFIP standards. Called the “Community Rating System” (CRS), the program rewards community efforts beyond minimum standards by reducing flood insurance premiums for the community’s property owners. The CRS is similar to the private insurance industry’s programs that grade communities on the effectiveness of their fire suppression and building code enforcement. Depending on the community class rating, flood insurance premium rates are discounted to reward the community’s actions. A participating community must annually submit a CRS recertification report to maintain its membership and class rating.

Officially entering the CRS in May of 2012, the City of Milford currently maintains a class 9 community rating to achieve 5% insurance premium discounts City‐wide. Through 2013, the City has focused its efforts on record management, annual public outreach, repetitive loss area outreach, providing NFIP information to its constituents, utilizing local GIS resources to show flood hazards, attempts to mitigate through the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP), and regulation of new construction and substantial improvements.

In 2013 FEMA issued major changes and updates to the CRS program.  The changes are meant to drive new achievements in the following six core flood loss reduction areas:

  • reduce liabilities to the NFIP Fund
  • improve disaster resiliency and sustainability of communities
  • integrate a “Whole Community approach” to addressing emergency management
  • promote natural and beneficial functions of flood plains
  • increase understanding of risk
  • strengthen adoption and enforcement of disaster‐resistant building codes.

The City of Milford secured grant funds of $6,500 from the Northeast Regional Ocean Council (NROC) and $13,500 from the Connecticut Association of Realtors to encourage flood damage reduction through the development of this Community Rating System (CRS) plan in order to improve resilience to coastal storms and the effects of sea level rise.
Milford’s efforts can serve as a model for other communities looking to
address coastal storm impacts and participate in CRS or enhance their
rating.

CRS is broken down into 4 broad categories or series.  Each series has a number of related activities that communities can pursue for points.  The more points a community scores, the better their CRS rating. 

Below are some additional resources.  This list will be updated periodically.