Florida homeowners will make up a $163 million shortfall for the state-run insurance pool, which is adding about 2 percent to homeowner policies for one year.

That means all insured homeowners will pay an additional $20.70 per $1,000 of annual premium. The charges will be added as policies come up for renewal.

Citizens Property Insurance ended 2005 with a total $1.7 billion deficit after paying claims from the four storms that hit the state, particularly from South Florida where Citizens has more than half of its policies.

Lawmakers took $715 million from the state coffers -- extra tax revenue generated by the hurricane rebuilding effort -- and paid down a portion of the 2005 deficit.

After the 2.07 percent assessment approved by the Citizens' board of governors, which met in Fort Lauderdale on Thursday, about 10 percent of the 2005 deficit has been met.

The remaining shortfall, approximately $786 million, will be made up with 1 percent assessments over the next 10 years. The board will consider the specifics of this additional assessment at its October meeting.

At the meeting, Bruce Douglas, chairman of Citizens' board, noted the insurer was in strong financial shape. Citizens, which has more than 1.2 million policyholders in Florida, has about $5 billion available to pay future claims, said Citizens President Robert Ricker.

In another development, Citizens has appealed an order from state insurance regulators that it reduce its windstorm policy rates in Monroe County by 32.2 percent.

Citizens contends state law requires its rates to be actuarially sound and regulators just can't ask it to ignore this rule. In a June filing, Citizens had asked for a 25.9 percent increase on its hurricane policies in the Keys.

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