Tap this FEMA flood discount program

If you live near the water anywhere in Nassau or Suffolk, you've probably noticed your flood insurance bill climbing. That's not your imagination. Under the Federal Emergency Management Agency's new pricing system, premiums are rising by as much as 18% a year, and for most families that climb will continue for years to come.

The statewide average premium is on track to reach somewhere between $2,000 and $3,200 a year by 2037. For households still recovering from what Superstorm Sandy taught us about living on the water, that's a serious drain on affordability.

Here's what you need to know: A federal program already exists that can push those bills back down, and it's largely unused in New York.

It's called the Community Rating System, or CRS. When a town or village strengthens how it manages flooding with better drainage rules, smarter building standards, protected marshes and open space, FEMA rewards every flood insurance policyholder there with a discount. Those discounts start at 5% and go up to 45%. And thanks to the new pricing rules, the discount now applies to every policy in a participating community, not just homes inside the mapped flood zone. That matters enormously here, because so many Long Island homes sit near the water but just outside the official flood zone lines.

So why aren't we already doing this? Because New York has barely tapped the program. Only about 36 of the state's roughly 1,500 flood-insurance communities take part, including 11 on Long Island. Florida has hundreds. New Jersey has dozens. We are leaving our own money on the table.

The state can help fix this. Albany can't simply enroll our communities for us; that decision belongs to each local government (whether it's county, town or village). But the state can remove the obstacles that keep communities on the sidelines. That's exactly what a 13-measure policy package would do: provide the mapping, the model local ordinances, the technical staff and the training that a community needs to join and climb to higher discount levels. The program even gives credit for natural buffers we have in abundance from Long Island Sound to the Great South Bay, like barrier beaches and bay wetlands. The marshes and dunes that protect our homes could also lower the cost of insuring them.

What does that mean for affordability? For a typical household, the program translates into savings that start in the hundreds of dollars a year and can grow to $800-$1,200 or more per policy as a community reaches the higher tiers. Multiply that across the tens of thousands of flood insurance policies held across downstate New York, the most flood-exposed areas of the state, and the benefit is enormous.

There's a second benefit, too. Every one of these steps toward tougher flood standards, better drainage and preserved wetlands makes our communities more resilient the next time a storm comes. Lower bills and less damage after a storm can be two sides of the same coin.

Rising flood costs are one of the quiet affordability crises facing Long Island families. Most debates in Albany are about who has to pay more or what will have to be cut next. This is a rare chance to help people pay less with a proven program. For too long, Long Islanders have paid more while doing the hard work, and we deserve the relief this program provides.

This guest essay reflects the views of Dean Tarulli, of Glen Head, a climate resilience specialist who is deputy director of coastal resilience at the New York City Department of Design and Construction.