NEW FLOOD INSURANCE RATING SPELLS SAVINGS FOR RESIDENTS

For immediate release May 9, 2008

HAHNVILLE – St. Charles Parish residents should see a 5 percent drop in their flood insurance premiums thanks to the parish’s new lower National Flood Insurance Community Rating.

NEW FLOOD INSURANCE RATING – Parish President V.J. St. Pierre Jr., left, receives a plaque from St. Charles Coastal Zone Management Officer Earl Matherne commemorating St. Charles’ new National Flood Insurance Community Rating. The ‘8’ rating will mean a 5 percent decrease in residents’ flood insurance premiums. Photo by Renee Allemand

Coastal Zone Management Officer Earl Matherne presented Parish President V.J. St. Pierre Jr. with a plaque commemorating the rating of ‘8’ at Monday’s Parish Council Meeting.

St. Charles Parish is the ninth community in the state of Louisiana to receive the ‘8’ rating. Planning and Zoning officials submitted paperwork for the rating in October, and the decision came down in April.

Matherne said his department began the current effort to bring down the rating about three years ago.

“We didn’t really have to change the way we do things,” he said. “But we had to improve the way we documented our work.”

St. Charles Parish began participating in the National Flood Insurance Program in 1983, Matherne said. Basic membership in the program required the parish to write building permits and residents to elevate their homes.

The parish entered the Community Rating System in 1990.

“The addition of the Community Rating System meant the parish thought it did better than the minimum requirements,” Matherne said. “Our original rating was a 10, which meant residents paid 100 percent of what they were being charged.”

In 1995, St. Charles Parish received its previous ‘9’ rating. Each parish president since then has endeavored to improve that score, he said.

Matherne thanked the Planning and Zoning Department’s permitting and code enforcement personnel, as well as Emergency Operations Center staff and Public Works drainage crews.

The mission of St. Charles Parish government is to provide high quality, efficient services to sustain and enhance the quality of life for all residents of St. Charles Parish.

For more information, contact St. Charles Parish Public Information Officer Renee C. Allemand at (985) 783-5000 or rallemand@stcharlesgov.net.