In October 2012, the City of Fort Worth (CFW) began participating in the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) Community Rating System (CRS) which recognizes and encourages community floodplain management activities that exceed the minimum NFIP standards. Under the CRS program, flood insurance premium rates are discounted for policy holders within a community with the reduction percentage depending on its class rating. The rating system is based on a 1 to 10 scale, with 1 being the ideal score (only 1 municipality in the United States holds the prestigious designation) and 10 being the score that indicates you're community is doing just enough to join the CRS. CFW's current Class rating of 8 entitles our residents to a 10 percent discount. CFW arrived at a FY 2017 target of 8 based on the CRS's parameters and what the Floodplain Management Team believes is attainable. The class rating reflects the work done by the Floodplain Management (FM) service area to support the three goals of the CRS: 1) reduce and avoid flood damage to insurable property; 2) strengthen and support the insurance aspects of the NFIP, and; 3) foster comprehensive floodplain management. Some of the activities FM completes for program credit include: maintaining elevation certificates, providing floodplain and flood protection information, completing outreach projects, developing floodplain mapping, regulating development to higher standards, maintaining flood data, and implementing a comprehensive Floodplain Management Plan. If CFW chose not to participate in this program, the City and its residents would lose the flood insurance discount.

Insurance Services Office, Inc. (ISO) on behalf of FEMA determines the class ratings for all participating communities. At the end of the fiscal year, FM submits documentation to the ISO/CRS specialist to verify implementation of the activities receiving CRS credit in order to maintain our certification. The ISO/CRS specialist sends the City's class rating via letter in November every year after the annual recertification or a verification visit. No calculations are completed by the City. In 2016, FM completed a verification visit which updated the City's guidance to the 2013 CRS User Manual and revised the activities the City of Fort Worth receives credit for. More information about what activities can be credited and their corresponding points can be found in the user manual or at www.crsresources.org.

Class ratings for all CRS communities can be found on FEMA's website. Local participating communties and their ratings are as follows: Austin (6), Benbrook (6), Dallas (5), Houston (5), Denton (6), Grand Prarie (5), Garland (7), Lewisville (7), Cleburne (8), and North Richland Hills (7). Other compariable cities include Denver (8), Kansas City (7), Nashville (8), Oklahoma City (8), and Portland (6). Our overall goal is to get the City of Fort Worth's class rating to a 6.