TAMPA — City officials announced some good news Monday for residents in low-lying neighborhoods: their next flood insurance bill should be cheaper.
The extra 5 percent discount comes after the federal government lowered the city’s "community rating'' from a 6 to a 5. The lower the score, the better on the ten-point scale created by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the National Flood Insurance Program.
Tampa had been a 6 rating since 2009. The new rating affects policies purchased or renewed after Oct. 1.
With it’s new ranking, Tampa joins St. Petersburg, which received its 5 rating in 2016, and Hillsborough and Pinellas counties, among the top 10 percent of nearly 1,500 communities nationwide who participate in the program.
Mayor Jane Castor credited stormwater improvements made in recent years for creating “dramatic success” in reducing Tampa’s once-chronic flooding, especially in many South Tampa neighborhoods.
In 2016, the City Council approved an assessment that will eventually cost a medium-sized homeowner just under $90 a year. The $251 million plan is on the books for 30 years. The previous year, council members had rejected a similar plan by a 4-3 vote.
This year, council members approved Castor’s $3.1 billion plan to upgrade the city’s sewer and water systems. Along with a 1-cent transit tax approved countywide last year — currently tied up in court — the city’s continued investment in its infrastructure will reap future dividends, Castor said in a statement.
“Tampa is a city with unlimited potential and these investments today will pay off ten-fold for generations to come,” she said.
The 26,569 policy holders in the city will now receive a 25 percent discount on their policies, up from 20 percent.