If you’ve been putting off energy and conservation improvements because of cost, the Louisville Metro Government may be on the verge of putting those improvements within reach, according to a recent story in the Louisville Courier-Journal.
Metro Government is considering a proposal which would enable owners of commercial, industrial and larger multi-unit residential buildings to make energy efficient upgrades to their buildings and pay for them through tax assessments. The ordinance was proposed by Bill Hollander, D-9th District.
Such improvements as HVAC upgrades, chillers, boilers, and furnaces, water heating systems, energy management systems and controls, mechanical system modernizations, lighting upgrades, and solar, wind turbines and geothermal heating and cooling, as well as water efficiency measures such as water management systems and controls would be qualified under the measure.
The ordinance requires no taxpayer dollars. It would create an Energy Project Assessment District, or EPAD, allowing property owners to acquire private financing to make their improvements and then repay the loans via an assessment collected by the Jefferson County Sheriff’s office over a term of up to 20 years, according to the story. The loan attaches to the property rather than the borrower, and transfer upon sale of the property.
The proposed ordinance was assigned to the Labor and Economic Development Committee at the Metro Council’s meeting on April 14, and was placed on the agenda for the committee’s April 19 meeting. Members of the committee include Chair Person Cheri Bryant Hamilton (D-5), Vice Chair Stuart Benson (R-20), Pat Mulvihill (D-10), Marianne Butler (D-15) and Robin Engel (R-22).
According to the Kentucky Conservation Committee, thirty other states have already passed legislation enabling the creation of EPAD. Several cities in Kentucky have created EPADs, and one project in Northern Kentucky has been funded.