Environment & Energy
Related: About this forumProjection: 1 Million FL Properties Will Become Chronically Flooded,W. Losses Of $619 Billion
One million Florida properties are projected to become chronically flooded: properties that today fund nearly 30% of local revenues for more than half of the states municipalities, according to a new study conducted by researchers at Cornell and Florida State Universities. As sea level rise drowns those properties, the state can expect to lose a combined assessed value of $619 billion this century, the studys authors write, and that figures likely a significant underestimation. The studys statewide survey also revealed that for the most part, Floridas local government planners and managers dont realize how drastically climate change will impact them financially.
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Right now, local revenues like property taxes are by far the largest share of funding Florida municipalities rely on for climate change adaptation efforts especially coastal municipalities, according to the study. Coastal areas are Floridas most at-risk, and by the year 2100, many of them could be underwater. Sea levels along U.S. coastlines are projected to rise 10 to 12 inches, on average, during the next 30 years, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Yet despite serious risks associated with living close to rising seas, Floridas coastline remains highly attractive to homebuyers: keeping property values in those areas relatively high, and encouraging even more real estate development there. As more property tax revenues roll in, they boost local governments bottom line. Right now, Floridas coastal areas generate $2.36 billion a year in property taxes for local governments; again, a low estimate, per the study.
But sea level rise is only predicted to get progressively worse, jeopardizing the future of not only those coastal communities, but the critical funding they supply for Floridas local governments. "Whats going to happen is: were going to keep growing, Butler said. Theres going to be more people living in those at-risk coastal zones. Theres going to be more stress and strain on those existing budgets, unless we change the growth paradigm that we currently operate under. And theres no hint that thats currently on anybodys mind.
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https://www.wmfe.org/environment/2023-10-16/sea-level-rise-drain-floridas-financial-future
cachukis
(2,272 posts)to other properties or the cities will lose functionality.
Insurance costs are being shared now. Florida's kick the can down the road is running out of places to kick it.
modrepub
(3,503 posts)The battle over climate change was waged for decades between the fossil fuel industry and the insurance industry; the 2 industries with the most to loose over addressing this problem. We all know who won that existential battle in the political arena (fossil fuel industry).
What we have failed to see is that the fossil fuel industry's political victory hasn't altered the situation. Climate is changing, the planet is warming causing sea-levels to rise (via land-ice melting and expansion in the water column as oceans warm). Thus the cost to replace assets in harms way as the climate warms (this includes areas prone to more wild fires) is increasing. This is a direct cost applied to the current situation.
Under normal market conditions, increased insurance costs should correct the problem of building in areas where structures would be routinely damaged. But politicians (and the people who elect them) are not allowing this self-correction to occur. They have fixed insurance rates, started state or federal insurance programs (that aren't market driven) to continue to allow building in inappropriate areas. In the long term, this is folly. It's even more ironic because all of the "capitalist" favoring parties sure are pushing government based solutions instead of letting the insurance market correct for these "mistakes".
Chainfire
(17,644 posts)sea level (I am at 300+ feet) will end up paying the cost of mitigating the damages of people's vacation homes. They will spend billions on boondoggles designed to protect the waterfront, because those with the money controll the government spending. They will build a wall, and we will pay for it. We have already seen a doubling of insurance cost an insurers fleeing the state like we have Ebola. I live within five miles of Georgia, maybe I can get them to annex me.
Meanwhile, the developers are still going, full bore, on property that is bound to be drowned.
orthoclad
(2,910 posts)lived inland at a higher elevation, further away from the sea. Now they're getting priced out by richies moving away from the coast.
mitch96
(13,925 posts)orthoclad
(2,910 posts)Been a while since I've been to Florida. The Keys and the reef were beautiful. The Panhandle was comfortably low-key. Now it's sounding like a J.G. Ballard book.
OKIsItJustMe
(19,938 posts)OKIsItJustMe
(19,938 posts)PUBLISHED: October 25, 2023 at 6:20 a.m. | UPDATED: October 25, 2023 at 6:33 a.m.
Floridians, more than other Americans, believe climate change is actually happening, according to a new study by Florida Atlantic University. They also want the government to do something about it.
FAUs Center for Environmental Studies (CES) found that 90% of Floridians believe climate change is underway, whereas only 74% of Americans as a whole think climate change is happening, according to a recent Yale University survey.
Previous FAU surveys were similar, showing that 86% to 92% of Floridians had that belief.
Other polls show similar findings.