Boulder Voters Follow Berkeley with Clean Energy
Financing
EERE Network News - 11/12/08
Voters in Boulder County, Colorado, have approved a ballot issue for the
county to provide financing for energy efficiency and renewable energy
improvements to residential and commercial properties, an approach also
recently adopted by Berkeley, California. Boulder County Ballot Issue 1A
passed easily, with unofficial results showing 63.63% of voters approving
the measure. The voter approval allows Boulder County to issue up to $40
million in special assessment bonds to finance the clean energy
improvements. Homeowners and businesses that elect to participate in the
program will repay the county over a number of years through special
assessments that are added to their property taxes. The measure caps the
effective interest rate for the bonds at 10%, although the county should be
able to secure a lower interest rate. Because the measure has just passed,
many details of the program remain to be worked out, but the county hopes to
begin accepting applications as early as February 2009.
The Boulder County measure follows a nearly identical financing effort now
being launched as a pilot program by the City of Berkeley, California. In
September, the Berkeley City Council approved an ordinance that allows the
city to issue up to $80 million in bonds to finance energy efficiency and
renewable energy projects. The city also passed a resolution to sell the
first $1.5 million in bonds to Renewable Funding, LLC, which will administer
the pilot phase of the financing project. Called the Berkeley FIRST program
(short for "Financing Initiative for Renewable and Solar Technology"), it is
initially being launched as a program to finance solar photovoltaic electric
systems on residential or commercial properties, with a cost cap of $37,500
per installation. Property owners will repay the city over 20 years through
a special tax on their property, paying interest at a rate similar to a
mortgage. As in Boulder, the tax will stay with the property, even if it is
transferred or sold. For the pilot program, the city will finance 40 solar
power installations throughout Berkeley. Applications are being accepted for
the pilot program through November 19. |