The Honorable Sarah Eckhart

The Honorable Ron Davis

The Honorable Brigid Shea

The Honorable Gerald Daugherty

The Honorable Margaret Gómez

Dear Judge Eckhart and Commissioners:

We encourage you to adopt the state’s first Property Assessed Clean Energy Program (PACE) under the new Texas PACE statute, SB 385. With this new program, Travis County will create jobs, promote business retention and expansion, upgrade building stock, promote energy and water conservation, and serve as a model for the rest of the state. The program is entirely voluntary and does not rely on taxpayer funding.

The PACE in a Box program you are considering is the nation’s first PACE model designed by volunteer stakeholders to be user-friendly, uniform, sustainable and scalable. This market-based approach will assist Travis County’s businesses to address deferred maintenance by investing in energy and water conservation-based improvements to their properties without the risk of over-investment. PACE enables commercial, industrial and multifamily real estate property owners to overcome the steep, upfront costs for water and energy efficiency improvements by private sector financing up to 100% of the capital improvements through a voluntary contractual PACE property assessment secured by a senior lien on the property. Businesses will benefit by saving more on their monthly utility bills than the costs of the financed improvements. If the property is sold before the full amount of the PACE assessment is repaid, the repayment obligation automatically transfers to the next owner.

We urge your support for PACE open-market financing for commercial, industrial and multifamily properties in Travis County.