CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — A looming 10 percent increase in windstorm insurance rates by the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association (TWIA) has local residents and business owners concerned that the additional costs could be a tipping point in their livelihood.
"I know a lot of business owners struggling right now with having to say, 'let's not raise the prices, but everything is going up so where am I going to take the hit,' " local business owner Richard Perales said.
Perales has been the owner of Brooklyn Pie Co. on Padre Island for the last 10 years. He has already seen costs skyrocket since the COVID-19 pandemic.
"I've had to cut days, certain hours, not do lunches," Perales said.
He's now preparing for the impact from a planned 10 percent rate hike for windstorm insurance.
"We're at the level of trying to make a decision, is this something you want to keep doing," said Perales.
May Nardone Mendoza, the chair of the Coastal Bend Texas Restaurant Association said it can be detrimental for local business owners.
"My windstorm insurance alone for my restaurant building is $85,000 a year," she explained. "You can't stay open like that."
On Aug. 6, TWIA Board of Directors voted 6-3 to file the 10 percent rate increase on commercial and residential policies.
The proposed rate has been filed with the Texas Department of Insurance (TDI) and it is now for the TDI Commissioner to approve or reject the increase.
Next Friday, the public will get a chance to address the rate hike with the commissioner for the Texas Department of Insurance who will have the final say on whether the increase will be imposed.
On Friday, local leaders gathered to get out the word about resident's final chance to let the department know where they stand on the increase, at a town hall with the TDI commissioner at 9 a.m. Sept. 27, at the Embassy Suites on SPID.
They said the more people who show up to next week's town hall, the greater impact it'll have.
"Let's kill the rate hike," said State Representative Todd Hunter from a podium.
Leaders said it's a cost that should be shared by all Texans not just those who live along the coast.
"With flooding, fires, things like that, please, we urge the commissioner, to please allow the legislature to create this plan, comprehensive plan that will take care of our problems," Nueces County Judge Connie Scott said.
Among those opposing the rate hike, the United Corpus Christi Chamber of Commerce.
"And now with this 10 percent, hard 10 percent increase, that's gonna make it that much more complicated for small businesses to do business in the Coastal Bend," CEO Al Arreola Jr. said. "It's a competitive disadvantage for some businesses. Some might even have to end up closing their doors out of concerns for the financial costs tied and associated to this increase."
Homeowners with TWIA policies will also feel the increase.
For those who pay an average of $2,300 dollars year on their policy, that's roughly an extra $230 dollars.
Resident Roy Garcia is closely watching what happens.
"My concern as a retired senior citizen, our monthly payments are paying an arm and a leg and it's taking away from our budgets," he said.