Florida CFO says Hurricane Milton's financial toll could reach $20 billion

TAMPA, Fla. - With Hurricane Milton expected to make landfall along Florida’s western and Gulf coasts, the state’s chief finance officer and fire marshal is hoping to ease worries around preparedness, aftermath insurance costs and taxes.

"It really depends on how the impact and damage of the storm is. Right now, as the path of the storm that is proposed, you're looking at somewhere north of $10, maybe $20 billion worth of insured losses," Jimmy Patronis said on "Varney & Co." Tuesday.

"The carriers in the state of Florida, they have been able to raise the type of capital in order to handle the storm. We've got nine new companies coming into the state. But everything that we're focused on right now is the urban search and rescue preparedness," he continued.

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"We've got resources in from all corners of the country, 1,200 urban search and rescue first responders preparing to deploy out as soon as the storm passes."

Florida cities such as Hialeah, Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood and West Palm Beach all rank high for risk of natural disasters, and pay some of the highest insurance premiums.

Data released by Insurify, an online insurance comparison website, showed a household’s insurance rate surged nearly 20% between 2021 and 2023, with an additional 6% expected before the year’s end.

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Florida’s average homeowners insurance rate is estimated to be around $11,000 per year, but Insurify said that could clock in closer to $12,000 with proposed rate increases.

"Property taxes will reflect whatever the functional usefulness of the property is. So if your home has been damaged and that new appraised value is less, it will be a reprieve," Patronis started to explain.

"So we did this after Hurricane Ian, where there will be a rebate system in place, but the individual has to apply before March 1 in order to get that rebate back. If your home is not as [valuable] as it was pre-storm, then you should be paying taxes on a home that was not harmed. So if your home was harmed, you will have a discount," he added.

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On the federal level, Patronis claimed there are individual assistance programs available to those who see impacts from Milton.

"Some of the challenges we've had is the amount of debris that was created by Helene in Pinellas County. That's Saint Petersburg. That's the most populated county per square foot in the entire state," Florida’s CFO pointed out.

"With that many homes, that much flood damage, that debris has got to be moved. So there's been some challenges between the contractors and FEMA and the sorting process. At the end of the day, we just got to get the debris gone so these do not become projectiles when the storm makes landfall."