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Property tax clean energy scheme mooted for St Petersburg, Florida
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Homes in St Petersburg are being offered a way to finance their own renewable energy systems
Homes in St Petersburg are being offered a way to finance their own renewable energy systems
The City of St Petersburg, Florida, is being offered the chance to put in place a system for residents to finance their own renewable energy systems via the local property tax system.
Financial consulting firm District Management Services has presented a proposal to set up a Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) program.
DMS, which is based in nearby Tampa Bay, said the scheme would be voluntary for St Petersburg homeowners, but would allow them to install equipment like solar panels at no up-front cost.
The costs of installing equipment would be paid off with extra payments on top of the property’s taxes each year, over a 15-20 year period.
If a property is sold, the payments are continued by the new owners.
As well as renewable energy generation systems and energy efficiency upgrades, the St Petersburg scheme would also allow funding for measures to help mitigate hurricane damage.
Along with the installation of clean energy systems, DMS is promising public awareness and education activities as part of its PACE program.
DMS chief executive officer Brian Lamb said: “PACE’s potential to create much-needed long term job opportunities in clean energy, reduce energy costs and help St. Petersburg ‘go green’ makes this an extraordinary and timely financing mechanism for municipalities.”
Payments
The financial services company said its own costs for running the PACE program would come out of the payments made by those voluntarily taking part, rather than by the City.
“Since PACE is not a tax or subsidy, not linked to the financial credit of the city or property owner, and has no impact on state or local governments or a city’s bond rating, we are labeling them as the new ‘smart’ financial districts,” said Mr Lamb.
The company, which has helped set up more than 150 special taxing district schemes in Florida, has proposed a pilot PACE program for St Petersburg, encompassing 10 homes across the eight Council districts, to demonstrate the system.
The measure is being supported within the St Petersburg City Council by Karl Nurse, who said: “PACE financing is a rare opportunity to create jobs, reduce our risks from hurricanes, help people save money and lower our energy use, all without costs to government. St. Petersburg should jump at this win-win-win program.”
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Editor's Choice
The implementation of the PACE program together with Federal Tax Credits and incentives has the potential to create more jobs and revenues for the counties of Florida than any other stimulus measure. Hats off to Brian Lamb for the job he's doing. We are looking for a lot more opportunities to share this business boom with the counties and districts of the state. Solar and geothermal air conditioning; get ready for PACE!
This is a great article! I am so excited to see that word is getting out about the PACE bill. Middle class homeowners across the state will now be able to afford to make their homes green.
Energy dependence is such a huge burden on this country, and if we can lessen our dependency by integrating green technologies in to our homes, all the better! Two more sites I found that really go over this are http://www.pacenow.org and http://www.pacelegislation.com.
This is great information. Finally a way for middle class america to be able to make energy saving improvements to their homes. I look forward to more information with the PACE program.
Hey this is great. Upgrading the efficiency of the home with no money out of pocket and paying for it over time with property tax, that is fantastic. The money saved on electricity and repair costs will allow the improvements to pay for themselves. This PACE stuff makes sense to me.
This is great information. Finally a way for middle class america to be able to make energy saving improvements to their homes. I look forward to more information with the PACE program.
Hey this is great. Upgrading the efficiency of the home with no money out of pocket and paying for it over time with property tax, that is fantastic. The money saved on electricity and repair costs will allow the improvements to pay for themselves. This PACE stuff makes sense to me.
[...] actively supporting that the city should take advantage of the program. Financial consulting firm District Management Services has already presented a proposal to set up a PACE program. The group held a [...]