Fate of Fort Myers Beach flood insurance rating and discount still unknown

The Federal Emergency Management Agency is removing Fort Myers Beach from probation later this year, but it is still not known whether the town will regain its ratings status after being downgraded last year.

Mayor Dan Allers, in an email to the Business Observer, says that FEMA has notified town officials that it is being removed from probation in November, a move that means a $50 surcharge residents have had to pay for flood insurance will go away.

What’s not known yet is the status of Fort Myers Beach in the National Flood Insurance Program’s Community Rating System. That rating downgrade is costing policy holders a 25% discount on policies which adds up to about $300 per year.

“We still need the site visit from FEMA before being reinstated to the CRS system,” Allers writes.

“At this time, it is undetermined if we will be back in that program and if we will receive any discount.”

NFIP was created in 1968 to provide insurance to help “reduce the socio-economic impact of floods,” FEMA says on its website. The program sells the insurance policies to property owners, renters and businesses through a public-private partnership between the government and insurance companies.

As part of the program, the Community Rating System assigns points to localities and qualifies certain communities’ residents for discounts that can cut insurance premiums by hundreds of dollars each year.

Fort Myers Beach has been dealing with the issue since March 28, 2024, when FEMA officials notified Lee and five localities, including the barrier island, of a ratings downgrade that would cost the resident’s a 25% flood insurance premium discount.

The rating downgrade, the agency said at the time, was the result of a large amounts of unpermitted work, lack of documentation and a failure to properly monitor activity in special flood hazard areas, including substantial damage compliance.

Then, on Nov. 21, FEMA announced Lee and four of the cities had met the requirements and maintained their Class 5 rating.

Fort Myers Beach, however, was downgraded to a Class 10 rating beginning April 1.

According to a letter to the town from FEMA’s regional administrator Robert Samaan at the time, the probation and rating downgrade is “because of the outstanding compliance issues remaining” that need to be addressed.

As part of its probation, residents would still be allowed to participate in NFIP but would have to pay the $50 surcharge.

FEMA did not respond to a request for comment, but the town posted a message on its website that the agency announced Fort Myers Beach “has met the requirements to be removed from probation under the National Flood Insurance Program” effective Nov. 18.

The post did not mention the rating downgrade or the loss of the discount.