"There ain't no millionaires in Broad Channel..."

BY DAN FRIEDMAN / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

THURSDAY, JANUARY 30, 201

'There ain’t no millionaires in Broad Channel,' Dan Mundy Jr., president of the Broad Channel Civic Association in Queens, said in response to criticism that federal insurance programs aid the rich and their beach houses. Under the proposed increases that the Senate voted to postpone, he said, his premiums would have risen from $2,000 to $12,500 per year.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate has delayed whopping flood insurance rate hikes that were due to sock tens of thousands of homeowners hit by Hurricane Sandy.

The 67-32 vote Thursday to hold off on the premium increases for four years kicks the issue back to the Republican-run House of Representatives, where leaders support a more modest plan to delay rate increases.

The Senate action gives a temporary reprieve to area homeowners.

“People are very aware of it, very concerned,” said Dan Mundy Jr., president of the Broad Channel Civic Association in Queens.

Critics say the current low rates for federal flood insurance amount to a subsidy for people living in areas that are flood-prone.

But Mundy shot back at claims that the federal programs support beach homes for millionaires.

“I live in Broad Channel,” he said, noting that many police officers and firefighters live in the neighborhood.

“There ain’t no millionaires in Broad Channel.”

Mundy said his premiums would rise from $2,000 to $12,500 per year under the proposed increases.

Rather than pay those rates, Mundy said he and many others would run the risk of living without flood insurance.

The congressional proposals aim to reduce the rising cost of the federal program by shifting property owners to private insurance plans — with sharply higher rates.

Congress has been inundated with letters from constituents in coastal areas around the country who have long been accustomed to paying the low subsidized rates.