Title
Staff Report for Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) Financing Programs - Adoption of Resolutions Authorizing Membership in Five (5) PACE Programs and Approval of Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) Regional Collaborative Services Agreement (RCSA) with Residential PACE Providers
Staffreport
SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) is a mechanism for local home and business owners to finance the upfront cost of energy efficiency, water conservation, and renewable energy improvements to their properties. Property owners borrow funds for the improvements and repay the loan via a special voluntary property tax assessment.
There is currently one PACE program, CaliforniaFIRST, operating in the City of San Leandro. Several additional PACE lenders have approached the City in recent months requesting that the City take the necessary actions to allow them to also offer PACE loans in San Leandro, including joining in three Joint Powers Authority (JPAs). JPA-sponsored PACE programs offer little risk to local jurisdictions because the JPA assumes the legal liability. Any bonds issued to finance projects are issued by the JPA.
To help San Leandro and other cities evaluate the PACE requests, the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) worked with the PACE providers to develop and agree to follow a set of best practices that will ensure that the programs meet certain basic quality and reporting standards. On behalf of its member jurisdictions (including San Leandro), ABAG developed a Regional Collaborative Services Agreement (RCSA) to ensure these best practices.
In order to provide property owners with more options, staff recommends that the City Council take a series of actions outlined in this report that will allow several new PACE programs (all of which have signed on to the ABAG RSCA) to operate in San Leandro. Staff recommends that the City Council:
1. Adopt and authorize execution of the attached resolutions...
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