County may bail on flood insurance
SANDPOINT — Bonner County is considering wading out of the National Flood Insurance Program.
County commissioners are scheduled to take up the matter of withdrawing from the Federal Emergency Management Agency program during their business meeting on Tuesday.
Bonner County’s community rating is currently an eight, which means homeowners with flood insurance receive a 10-percent discount, according to Bonner County Planning Director Milton Ollerton.
Ollerton said there are 108 flood insurance policyholders in the county, which results in $10,453 in annual savings to homeowners.
National flood insurance is a voluntary incentive program which recognizes and encourages community floodplain management activities which exceed minimum program requirements. The county undergoes an external audit every five years.
Changes FEMA is making to the program will see the insurance discount shrink from 10 percent to 5 percent. The community rating, meantime, is expected to slip from an eight to a nine.
“Our rating’s actually going to go down,” Ollerton said.
Another reason the county may bail on flood insurance is the amount of staff time that is consumed by the bureaucratic hoops required by the program. Ollerton estimates 200 hours of staff time is spent keeping up with the program’s paperwork.
The $10,453 discount amounts to $96.79 per year for individual policyholders.
The discount will erode to $48.39 per year if the community rating moves from an eight to a nine, according to the planning department.
The county commission will also consider removing a line of Bonner County Revised Code which requires building permit applicants to submit construction plans bearing the stamp of an architect or engineer. Ollerton said this requirement is unnecessary because the planning department does not review construction plans.
The county is also forming a citizen committee to review Title 11, the building location code.
“We’re not really going to add anything, I don’t think. I just think it’s time for Title 11 get a good review,” said Ollerton.
Keith Kinnaird can be reached by email at kkinnaird@bonnercountydailybee.com and follow him on Twitter @KeithDailyBee.