Reducing Flood Insurance Premiums in Your Community through Planning

Local Hazard Mitigation Plans and the Community Rating System

The CDEM Mitigation Team has developed a crossover guide to help community floodplain managers and other hazard mitigation professionals receive Community Rating System (CRS) planning credit through FEMA’s multi‐hazard mitigation planning process.


Crossover Guide


A community’s FEMA approved multi-hazard mitigation plan may receive CRS points if it was prepared in accordance with the process explained in the NFIP CRS Coordinator’s Manual or FEMA’s Local Multi-Hazard Mitigation Planning Guidance. The crossover guide provides assistance on how steps for mitigation planning intersect with the steps required for CRS floodplain management planning. CRS planning credit may come from submitting an existing FEMA approved multi-hazard mitigation plan or by following the mitigation planning process and paying special attention to the related CRS steps.

Both the CRS manual and local mitigation planning guidance are being revised for 2012. Proposed changes to the CRS Coordinator’s Manual may be found at CRS2012.org, while the Local Mitigation Plan Review Guide contains the latest updates for mitigation planning. The crossover guide will be revised to reflect these changes once both are finalized.

As it currently stands, for every 500 CRS points a community earns, NFIP flood insurance premiums are adjusted downward to reflect the greater amount of planning completed to reduce the impact of flood hazards on the community. Some communities may reach their next 500-point threshold by earning points available for CRS planning credit.

CDEM expresses gratitude to the FEMA Region VIII Mitigation Section’s community planners and the Insurance Services Office (ISO) for their contributions and support in developing this tool.

Please feel free to contact Ken Brink, Mitigation Team Supervisor, with questions or comments at kenneth.brink@state.co.us or 720-852-6695.