Dorchester County to pursue federal flood insurance discounts for residents | News

Dorchester County residents don’t get a discount on National Flood Insurance Program policies, unlike residents of all four neighboring counties.

That could soon change as Dorchester County is working on an application to the Community Rating System, a Federal Emergency Management Agency initiative that triggers the insurance discounts.

“I would hope that by the end of the year we’ll have something to announce,” said Bryan T. Havir, assistant administrator for community services.

In neighboring Charleston County, residents who live in unincorporated areas will be getting 40 percent off their flood insurance policies when the county’s recently improved rating takes effect later this year.

Residents of Berkeley and Colleton counties get a 10 percent discount, and Orangeburg County residents get 5 percent off. 

The CRS program rewards property owners with lower flood insurance rates when their governments take steps to reduce potential flood damage and raise awareness. Policies restricting development in flood plains help a CRS score, as do public outreach efforts about flood prevention and insurance.

“We have pointed out on numerous occasions the flood prone areas of the county,” said Mario Formisano, Dorchester County’s deputy county administrator for public safety. 

The CRS program rules are complex — the manual is 641 pages — and paperwork intensive.

“During the next fiscal year the county will also be hiring additional staff that will complement our current staffing in order to focus on implementing this program,” Dorchester County spokeswoman Michelle Mills said.

She said while the county pursues the flood insurance discount for residents, the county is also continuing to work on flood reduction projects with the Army Corps of Engineers including the planned restoration of Polk Swamp, and work on Eagle and Chandler creeks.

More than 1,700 towns, cities and counties participate in the national CRS program. Of those, 244 have the lowest score — a 10, which comes with no discount on flood insurance, and only two have the highest score that comes with a 45 percent discount.

One advantage for Dorchester County is that it’s surrounded by counties and local governments that are already in the CRS program and could provide some advice. Charleston County and Folly Beach are among the highest-scoring local governments in the nationwide program.

Getting a good score could involve new rules and initiatives, but it’s also a matter of carefully documenting all the things a government already does that are worth CRS points.

“It may look like a lot from the outside, but as long as you have one person to put all the pieces together it’s about organization,” said Havir.

In South Carolina 17 of 46 counties participate along with 31 municipalities. The discounts are connected to the local governments, so if a county qualifies only residents of that county’s unincorporated areas would get it.

For example, a Charleston County resident would get a different discount depending on if they live in an unincorporated area governed by the county (40 percent off), or in the city of Charleston (20 percent), Mount Pleasant (20 percent), North Charleston (15 percent), Folly Beach (35 percent), or another municipality.

North Charleston city residents who live in Dorchester County already benefit from city’s CRS discount. Summerville residents don’t get a discount because the town doesn’t participate in the program and that wouldn’t change if the county gets a CRS rating.

Once a community is accepted to the CRS program they get a rating score and residents get a flood insurance discount ranging from zero to 45 percent. Then the scores are re-evaluated about every three years and that can lead to larger discounts, as happened in Charleston County this year.

Reach David Slade at 843-937-5552. Follow him on Twitter @DSladeNews.