20 - Intent to Establish the City of Paris Texas Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) Program

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• Boost the local economy by creating new job opportunities for laborers and new business opportunities for contractors, engineers, commercial lenders, professionals, and equipment vendors and manufactures • Increase business retention and expansion in the PACE region by enabling cost effective energy and water saving updates to existing property • Improve productivity through optimized energy usage • Support the State's water conservation plan • Better enable City to meet its water conservation goals By creating new investment opportunities, PACE will stimulate employment growth and economic development in City. Improvements financed through PACE will reduce energy and water consumption, thereby helping the local water utility, local energy, and other utility providers and their customers achieve critical energy and water conservation goals. For communities facing potential nonattainment levels under the Clean Air Act, PACE provides a very real opportunity to dramatically reduce building energy consumption and the emissions associated with energy generation. PACE Programs will also improve the quality of the County's commercial and industrial building stock. The benefits of PACE for City are magnified by the fact that PACE Programs can be established with minimal support from the local government and, once established, can be self-sustaining. City intends for the PACE Program to be self-sustaining because it will be primarily funded by fees paid by the lenders and/or property owners in connection with the projects. Furthermore, because the PACE Program is tax neutral, it achieves all of the benefits listed in this Report without imposing a burden on City's general fund. The 84th Texas Legislature added a provision that explicitly shields City and its employees from liability resulting from administering a PACE Program. I SECTION S. THE BENEFITS OF PACE To LENDERS. PACE loans are attractive to lenders because they are very secure investments. Like a property tax lien, the assessment lien securing the PACE loan has priority over other liens on the property. Therefore, the risk of loss from non-payment of a PACE loan is low compared to most other types of loans. PACE assessments provide lenders with an attractive new product to assist existing and new customers in addressing an almost universal pent-up demand for needed commercial and industrial property equipment modernization. In order to protect the interests of holders of existing mortgage loans on the property, the PACE Act requires their written consent to the PACE assessment as a condition to obtaining a PACE loan. 1TX. Local Gov't Code §399.019.