Editor, Gazette-Journal:

We attended a meeting last week in Gloucester that explained a program for flood-prone counties. It is called the Community Rating System, or CRS, and it is a voluntary incentive program that helps communities on a floodplain take actions that reduce flood damage to insurable property. The benefits for joining include a reduction in flood damage and a lowering of homeowners’ flood insurance.

According to information at the meeting, the cost of flood insurance for homes on floodplains is rising by 25 percent per year and this seems to be a way to fight back.

Gloucester opted into this program several years ago and its residents are benefitting. Mathews has not.

Our county has already implemented some of the requirements that would allow homeowners to benefit from the rating system, but since we haven’t formally joined, we aren’t entitled to the reductions in premiums.

Our residents should be aware of this program and we urge our supervisor...