Report: Flood Protection Payoffs

Flood Protection Pay-Offs: A Local Government Guide to the Community Rating System

Executive Summary

Virginia localities are currently facing several challenges: increasing insurance rates from the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), rising sea levels, strained budgets, and a growing number of regulatory requirements imposed on local governments to reduce stormwater runoff.

Wetlands Watch has identified opportunities for localities to earn flood insurance discounts by coordinating strategies that meet stormwater program requirements, thereby maximizing the efficient use of scarce local government funds.

The NFIP’s Community Rating System (CRS) is at the core of this strategy. The CRS provides flood insurance discounts to constituents within a locality in exchange for advanced floodplain management efforts. These reduced flood insurance rates help ensure homes remain affordable, thereby maintaining the population and tax base.

The CRS offers credit for many existing programs in Virginia localities, such as stormwater regulations and system maintenance, building code enforcement, stringent floodplain ordinances, and open space preservation. Leveraging these existing programs for CRS credit improves efficiency, fosters collaboration between municipal departments, and delivers multiple benefits from a single action.

The challenge for localities is in detailing and mapping these co-benefits. This Wetlands Watch CRS report is a guide for local governments to identify which common activities and programs may earn credit. Readers can review the basic requirements for credit, determine whether program adjustments are necessary to obtain credit and whether those adjustments are worth the investment for a locality, and explore available funding opportunities to support localities in advancing creditable programs that further community goals.

Increased CRS participation provides flood insurance discounts to constituents, eases strains on the housing market and tax base, and offers incentives to adapt to sea level rise and increased flooding—all achievable through the documentation of existing programs.

Download our report here.