Lancaster City Council Approves PACE Program Participation

Lancaster, CA. June 25, 2014— During last night’s meeting, the Lancaster City Council adopted three resolutions which will enable property owners to voluntarily participate in three statewide programs that provide financing for the addition of energy-efficient improvements to properties. Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) financing enables any qualifying property owner, whether commercial or residential, to voluntarily enter in to a contractual agreement with any of three state organizations to finance the entire cost of energy conservation, distributed generation, or water conservation improvements to the property.

“These PACE programs are an exceptional addition to our ongoing efforts to encourage green energy development throughout our City,” said Mayor R. Rex Parris. “In addition to providing for energy development, these resources allow property owners to make tangible, practical, and across the board efficiency improvements on their property. Assuring these choices are available to our property owners is clearly the most reasonable choice for the future of our city.”

The three PACE financing programs approved for operation within City jurisdiction last night include the California Home Energy Renovation Opportunity (HERO) program, the CaliforniaFIRST program, and the Figtree PACE program. All of these programs allow property owners to finance the entire cost of green improvements through these entities, and to pay off the cost of the project through voluntary annual assessments on the owner’s property tax bill.

The HERO program serves as a turnkey program for numerous county and city governments throughout California that are seeking to engage in PACE financing for renewable energy generation, as well as energy and water efficiency improvements. The program primarily focuses on residential improvements.

The CaliforniaFIRST program was developed by the California Statewide Communities Development Authority (CSCDA) in order to provide its member agencies (which include the City of Lancaster) with PACE financing. The Figtree PACE program is sponsored by the California Enterprise Development Authority (of which the City of Lancaster is also a member) and focuses on providing financing for commercial, industrial, retail, and multi-family residential projects.

“The inclusion of a method to provide for greater financial flexibility for property owners in our effort to spur environmentally responsible building enhancements here in the City of Lancaster is simply yet another means of providing educated choices to our constituents. I look forward to the increase in environmental stewardship by both residents and business owners that these programs afford,” concluded Mayor R. Rex Parris.