The work done by Key West's FEMA coordinator helped the city gain an increased flood insurance policy discount. | By Cristo Vlahos/Wikimedia Commons
Most of the city of Key West’s property owners will save on their flood insurance starting this month as a discount increases to 25%.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency awarded the city the increase from 15% for most of its 8,000 policyholders, the city reported on its website.
The average policyholder will save $494 on flood insurance annually, for a total savings of $3.3 million in the city.
“This is great news for our residents,” Mayor Teri Johnston said on the website, “thanks to the hard work and diligence of our FEMA Coordinator Scott Fraser with the assistance of the Key West Association of Realtors and FIRM [Fair Insurance Rates in Monroe].”
The community earned the discount by doing things that include maintaining a ratio of open undeveloped land, having flood certificates and flood information available online, emergency warning and response systems, compliance with Substantial Improvement/Damage requirements, maintaining detailed permitting records, and sending flood fact flyers to residents annually. The community also provides flood zone information to potential property buyers and the city continues stormwater management and drainage maintenance, the website reported.
Proposed new flood maps from FEMA put 2,000 more buildings into a flood zone that weren’t designated that way previously. That would see those policyholders going from no discount to a 25% discount.
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