2013-28400 Reso 2013-28400
RESOLUTION NO.
A RESOLUTION OF THE MAYOR AND CITY COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF MIAMI
BEACH, FLORIDA SUPPORTING THE EFFORTS OF THE FLORIDA UNITED STATES
CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATION TO DELAY THE EFFECTIVE DATE OF THE 2012
BIGGERT-WATERS FLOOD INSURANCE REFORM ACT TO PREVENT SIGNIFICANT
INCREASES IN FLOOD INSURANCE RATES UNTIL THE FEDERAL EMERGENCY
MANAGEMENT AGENCY COMPLETES ITS AFFORDABILITY STUDY AND THE STUDY
IS CONSIDERED BY THE UNITED STATES CONGRESS.
WHEREAS on October 1, 2013, the 2012 Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act
(`Act") became effective and the Act will significantly increase subsidized flood insurance rates
on older properties in flood zones in Florida; and
WHEREAS, 13% of the 2 million homeowners who carry flood insurance in Florida will
be affected by rate increases when they renew their insurance coverage, sell their homes, or
when they experience significant loses, in which events the full cost of insurance could be as
much as 3,000 % more than current rates; and
WHEREAS, in Miami-Dade County, 47,663 homeowners benefit from subsided flood
insurance rates, and more than 22,000 of these homeowners are located in Miami Beach; and
WHEREAS, the new rates were designed to bring the flood insurance program back into
solvency after Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans in 2005 by phasing out subsidies in high-
risk zones and updating flood zone maps across the United States over the next five years;
however, these rate changes will have devastating effects in Florida and are already having a
chilling effect on real estate sales in Florida's slowly recovering real estate market; and
WHEREAS, legislation is pending in Congress to delay the effect of the Act and to
require that the rate hikes be halted until the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
completes a study of rate increase impacts on homeowners; and
WHEREAS, the Florida U.S. Congressional delegation supports federal legislation to
delay the effective date of the Act until its impacts can be studied and addressed.
NOW THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE MAYOR AND CITY COMMISSION OF
THE CITY OF MIAMI BEACH, FLORIDA, that the Mayor and City Commission of the City of
Miami Beach hereby support the efforts of the Florida U.S. Congressional delegation to delay
the effective date of the 2012 Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act to prevent significant
increases in flood insurance rates until the Federal Emergency Management Agency completes
its affordability study and such study is considered by the United States Congress.
PASSED and ADOPTED th• 4 t1 of October, 2013.
ATTEST: �`�'• • �����
• ��:,� -� ':�"' .'�MA I HER R RA OWER, MAYO
L4
I = APPROVED AS TO
RAF EL E. GRANADO, 7in -52i GLERK Al ED; i FORM &LANGUAGE
'••. Na",,�'` ••'• &FOR EX UTI O N
F:\ATTO\TURN\RESOS\Against Increas (n �g i �C.•'• °� 7
y D le
MIAMIBEACH
OFFICE OF THE CITY ATTORNEY
JOSE SMITH, CITY ATTORNEY COMMISSION MEMORANDUM
TO: MAYOR MATTI HERRERA BOWER
MEMBERS OF THE CITY COMMISSION
CITY MANAGER JIMMY MORALES
FROM: CITY ATTORNEY JOS MIT f
DATE: OCTOBER 16, 2013
SUBJECT: A RESOLUTION OF THE MAYOR AND CITY COMMISSION OF THE
CITY OF MIAMI BEACH, FLORIDA SUPPORTING THE EFFORTS OF
THE FLORIDA UNITED STATES CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATION
TO DELAY THE EFFECTIVE DATE OF THE 2012 BIGGERT-WATERS
FLOOD INSURANCE REFORM ACT TO PREVENT SIGNIFICANT
INCREASES IN FLOOD INSURANCE RATES UNTIL THE FEDERAL
EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY COMPLETES ITS
AFFORDABILITY STUDY AND THE STUDY IS CONSIDERED BY
THE UNITED STATES CONGRESS.
Pursuant to the request of Commissioner Michael Gongora, the attached Resolution is
submitted for consideration by the Mayor and City Commission.
Agenda Item
Date - - ?
ID NAIANAIBEACH
11=711
OFFICE OF THE CITY ATTORNEY
JOSE SMITH, CITY ATTORNEY COMMISSION MEMORANDUM
TO: MAYOR MATTI HERRERA BOWER
MEMBERS OF THE CITY COMM SION
CITY MANAGER JIMMY MO L
FROM: CITY ATTORNEY JOSE MIT
DATE: OCTOBER 16, 2013
SUBJECT: A RESOLUTION OF THE MAYOR AND CITY COMMISSION OF THE
CITY OF MIAMI BEACH, FLORIDA SUPPORTING THE EFFORTS OF
THE FLORIDA UNITED STATES CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATION
TO DELAY THE EFFECTIVE DATE OF THE 2012 BIGGERT-WATERS
FLOOD INSURANCE REFORM ACT TO PREVENT SIGNIFICANT
INCREASES IN FLOOD INSURANCE RATES UNTIL THE FEDERAL
EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY COMPLETES ITS
AFFORDABILITY STUDY AND THE STUDY IS CONSIDERED BY
THE UNITED STATES CONGRESS.
Attached please find an article from The New York Times dated Sunday, October 13,
2013 which is submitted as supplemental material to the above-referenced Resolution. The
Resolution has been placed on the Agenda pursuant to the request of Commissioner Michael
Gongora for consideration by the Mayor and City Commission.
Agenda Item c 7K`
Date
12 oY
SUNDAY,OCTOBER 13,2013
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F �4'iteu5u'"��' ';A ,� PHOTOGRAPHS BY WILLIAM WIDMER FOR THE NEW YORK TIMFS
An elevated house for sale south of New Orleans in Plaquemines Parish,La.Buyers of properties in flood-prone areas could face steep increases in flood insurance premiums.
►' Cost of flood I nsurance rises Aloe With Worries
By LIZETTE ALVAREZ and CAMPBELL ROBERTSON gram,in the view of critics,encouraged development in risky
MIAMI—Sharp increases in federal flood insurance races - areas and led to costly claims after catastrophic' events,
azedistressingcoastalhomeownersfromHawaiiu New Eno New Law Ends Federal Subsidies payouts that were borne largely by those paying market rates.
land and are starting to hurt property values and housing sales But the effort to stabilize the program means changing
in areas just beginning co recover from the recession,ac- That Had Kept Premiums Low rules that have guided development in flood plains for decades.
cording to residents and legislators.re v Some property owners,including business owners and those
b :. who bought property after July 6,2012,are shocked to be facing
In recent weeks,the hefty flood insurance rate increases ther now,over the next several years or whenever they sell potential tenfold premium increases or,in some cases,signif-
brought about by a 2012 law have stoked widespread alarm and
uncertainty,prompting rallies,petitions and concern among their properties.The exact amount of the increase depends on icant losses to the value of their homes.
state governors.Mississippi has sued the federal government the home's elevation above flood level. Property owners in the Northeast first,confronted the
t to try to block the law.The,issue has even garnered the atten- Approved by Congress in July 2012 as part of a wide- changes as they contemplated rebuilding in the wake of Hurri-
tion of lawmakers,otherwise mired in the acrimonious govern- ranging transportation bill,the Biggert-Waters Act was in- cane Sandy last year.But owners of flood-prone properties
ment shutdown.A bipartisan group of senators and House tended to regain control of an increasingly unsustainable Na- elsewhere are just tuning in to the changes,with many still un-
members from Gulf Coast states are pressing for significant tional Flood Insurance Program.The subsidies within that pro- clear how they will be affected.
"The homeowners and
adjustments to the law once business owners simply can-
the Capitol returns to normal. , not withstand these gargan-
The law,officially known rt za tuan hikes;'said Senator Bill
as the Biggert-Waters Flood � ! 1 Nelson,a Florida Democrat
Insurance Reform Act,is be > 3^ h - .
ft E and member of the bipartisan
ing rolled out in stages,with a. s. _ •t„}�r„ r ' °
group of lawmakers pushing
major part having gone into l '
' s a bill to delay the increase.'
effect on Oct-1. It removes r "`�4»' '"" "There is a lot of panic about
subsidies that keep federal �� M: -'cjaa• .,�"�, .j � 'aYU ���""" this:'
i flood insurance premiums ar- `� at �ra� '*� a ,x t
p k,`, .�1It ir`� r» •r'�,w; F ti� Still, in recent years,
i tificially low for more than a
million policy holders around costly flooding disasters,in-
million �� ` p err.• ;' ,� �.i��'�,'�>'• eluding Hurricane Sandy,
the count a discount that
country— have left the program$25 bil-
was applied to properties that lion in debt,a situation that
existed before the drawing of i. ( F: * M ��� y t4 ti will most likely worsen be-
flood insurance rate maps.
p li .c, cause of climate change and
An estimated 20 percent a xr s�r ��+� coastal overdevelopment.
of the property owners with 't
p p ty � 1 _ _yl,,, s� And almost everyone in-
federal flood insurance re t `Fw:fiE c _: - `' volved agrees that the issue
ceived these subsidies as they g
new law went into effect,and T is not whether to change the
i their premiums will rise, in Claiborne Duvall,left,of Houma,La.,could see his premium rise to nearly$6,500 a year from$412.
t some cases precipitously,ei- Scott Morse of Belle Chasse,La.,did not find out about the increases until after buying a new home. Continued on Page 16
i
i
ZONAL SUNDAY,OCTOBER 13,2013
Cost of Federal Flood Insurance Rises
For Property OAlong'With Fears ,
From Page 12
r .
program, but how to soften the
impact on those hit hardest by ;" m
the cost increases.
"The flood insurance program
is one big storm away from not
existing at all," said Steve Ellis,.'
the vice president of Taxpayers
for Common Sense, a nonprofit
group that has long pushed for „<<
changes in the program: The
�;`f r93
group has suggested some meas-
ures to help those affected by the
new law but insists that-delays
would only make problems `
worse."There's a lot of talk about
fairness," Mr. Ellis said, "but, I
a =;
would argue.that it's not neces- WILLIAM WIDMER FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES
sarily fair that.some people are A flood-prone home being elevated in Plaquemines Parish,La.
paying full risk-based rates and
other people aren't:' risk, potential home buyers are West and St.Pete Beach on Flori-
The alarm over the new.law thinking twice about properties -da's west coast,home sales have
spreads beyond those losing sub-_ in flood-prone areas. come to a near standstill just as
sidies to even those who inten- The National Flood Insurance the crush of the recession was be-
tionally built outside of high-risk program,began in 1968 as a way ginning to fade. That could get
flood zones and are currently to extend government insurance worse when FEMA begins to
paying:.nonsubsidized but rela- to homeowners in communities phase out subsidies for condo
tively low premiums.In the past, that tend to flood.Today,5.5 mil- owners in these flood zones,a de-
if flood maps were redrawn and a lion property owners hold federal cision it has put off for now.
property's risk profile changed, flood insurance policies, 80 per- Wendy Lockhart and her hus-
the old rate was"grandfathered" cent of whom pay market rates. band,who live in St.Pete Beach,
in. The new law ends that prac Every property with a mortgage a barrier island, said they re-
tice beginning late next year.,So in a designated flood plain must cently closed on a house not too
when the Federal Emergency have flood insurance,and the fed- far away.Just after they put their
Management Agency recently
old house on the market, they
presented revised maps for south found out that for a buyer, the
Louisiana, the reaction was
alarm. flood insurance rates on that
"M whole investment prem- A bipartisan effort tO home would jump immediately to
Y
ise was destroyed overnight," Change a law stalls $8""It' a year from$800.
ho
said Scott Morse, who, despite . � "It's a total long shot that any-
being the president of a local amid the shutdown. body would buy this at this
home builders association, did point," said Ms. Lockhart, who
not know about the changes until owns a real estate brokerage `
after he bought a new,house in firm.
January. eral government insures a vast Many are hoping for wealthy
About 600,000 homeowners na- majority of them. In Florida, cash buyers who are not required
tionwide will see their rates rise which has the most federal flood to carry flood insurance because
only if they buy new policies or insurance policies in the country, they do not have mortgages.Ab-
allow their current'policies to ;260,000 or 13 percent — of sent that, many are scrambling
lapse.Homeowners are now con- them are subsidized. for options.
cerned that they may not be able W.Craig Fugate,the FEMA ad- "I built to their codes,I did ev-
to sell their homes because any- ministrator, speaking before a erything I was supposed to do,".
one -buying 'a property will be Senate committee last month, said Claiborne Duvall,. 31, who
forced to pay the steep premi- said he was concerned that some. built his house outside of Houma,
ums."This has created a worri- property owners might have diffi- La., in 2011 only to find out.re-
some ripple effect in the real es- culty paying the new premiums, cently that a proposed new map
tate market, and some residents but said it was up to Congress to had moved him into a flood zone.
fear that the value of their homes . address that. If the map is adopted,the$412 a
has dropped. "I fully believe we should stop year he had been paying in flood
Confronted with premiums subsidizing risk as we go forward insurance would steadily rise to.
that-can range from $3,000 to for new construction,for second nearly$6,500.
$33,000 or much more,depending ary homes and for businesses," "What are they going to do?"
on the cost of the home. and its he said. "But I think we need to he asked of those around him
look at affordability for people who could neither afford the new
Lizette Alvarez reported from Mi- who live there, look at how we rates nor find someone willing to
ami, and Campbell Robertson can mitigate their risk" buy their homes. "Everybody's
from New Orleans. In some communities,like Key just going to turn their keys in?