Highland Village staff says FEMA Community Rating System work could cut flood-insurance costs about 15%

City staff told the council on Aug. 11 that Highland Village has accelerated work to enter FEMA's Community Rating System (CRS), and that the city had a preliminary CRS score of 7. Sunny, who led the presentation, said the score reflects locally adopted higher standards and staff's outreach and mapping work dating to 2010.

"The CRS stands for the Community Rating Service System and we have actually been preparing for this program since 2010," Sunny said in the presentation. She told council the city engaged LAN Incorporated for consulting (a one-time $22,000 allocation during the FY25-26 budget) and completed an on-site audit Aug. 6. Staff reported 596 residential properties touch the special flood hazard area and an older data set showed roughly 60 current flood-insurance policies in the city.

Sunny said a CRS Class 7 would generate an average discount of about 15% for flood-insurance premiums and that the current policyholders could save about $24,480 in the first year under the preliminary rating. "A 7," she announced after summarizing scoring points for the record.

Staff emphasized the time-sensitive documentation requirement. The city has 30 days from receipt of the audit's 30-day letter to provide proof of the programs, ordinances and outreach it performs. Sunny said many of the requested ordinance changes simply codify practices the city already follows (for example, a two-foot elevation standard for structures and machinery such as HVAC units) so the city can receive credit in the CRS scoring matrix.

Why it matters: a CRS designation lowers flood-insurance costs for policyholders across the community when the documentation and ordinance language align with the credits FEMA awards. Staff told council it would advertise enrollment and the discount opportunities to residents once the rating is official and documented.

Next steps: staff will finalize the ordinance language, collect the documentary evidence requested by the audit team, publish materials for residents on how to claim the discount and pursue outreach to raise the number of policyholders eligible for savings.