Dec 10 - Ventura County Star

The Ventura County Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday night to join a statewide program that would lend money to property owners for solar panels and other energy-saving measures.

If the California Energy Commission agrees to fund the program, it will issue grants to a cooperative of local governments called the California Statewide Communities Development Authority. Property owners who choose to participate could buy solar panels at the development authority's expense and then pay the authority back through an annual assessment on their properties.

Ventura County joins a group of 14 counties that have signed up so far. All 10 cities in the county have expressed interest in participating, so the loans would be available countywide.

The development authority has applied for $16.5 million in state funding. Ventura County Deputy CEO Christy Madden said the Energy Commission has indicated it will approve the grant request.

The Board of Supervisors voted 4-1 to participate. Supervisor Peter Foy voted no because, he said, "this is something the private sector can do on its own."

The other supervisors said the new arrangement is clearly better than one they considered last year, in which the county itself would lend the money for solar panels, and property owners would repay it through an addition to their property taxes.

With the development authority involved, the county isn't taking on the risk of issuing bonds, Supervisor Steve Bennett said.

"This is not going to be completely free, but it's down in the range where there's going to be very good cost effectiveness," he said.

The program so far is only designed to fund work that improves energy efficiency, but Madden said water-related projects probably will be added eventually.

The whole process of applying for the grants, Bennett said, has been "like trying to grab an oiled jelly bean. It's been squishy but its been attractive enough to keep going after it."

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Copyright (c) 2009, Ventura County Star, Calif.

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(c) 2009, McClatchy-Tribune Information Services