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TO: Mayor John Laesch, R.A.P. Committee members
FROM: Alison Lindburg, Director of Sustainability
DATE: November 13, 2025
SUBJECT: Requesting passage of an ordinance that enables Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) financing via property assessment for energy efficiency, water use, and renewable energy improvements in Aurora City limits.
PURPOSE:
To enable the availability of a financing mechanism run by the Illinois Finance Authority that allows property owners to request the levy of special assessments for the purpose of energy efficiency improvements, renewable energy improvements, and/or water use improvements.
BACKGROUND: The Illinois Finance Authority (IFA) has been running a Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) financing program since 2013. C-PACE is a financing mechanism that allows owners of commercial (and certain other) properties to finance energy, water, resiliency, and renewable-improvement projects through long-term, fixed-rate assessment liens on their property.
In order to access this financing, properties must be located within a jurisdiction that has enabled it. Once a municipality adopts a local enabling ordinance and program report, that jurisdiction becomes a "PACE area," making C-PACE financing available within the city's boundaries.
The C-PACE financing is structured so that IFA issues bonds or notes to capital providers, who then provide the upfront funding for the eligible improvements. The property owner repays over time via a special assessment on their property - repaid alongside property taxes, not as a conventional loan. Enabling this program does not create debt or financial liability to the City.
Eligible properties include privately owned commercial, industrial, non-residential agricultural, multi-family (5 or more units), or not-for-profit properties - essentially non-single-family residential.
Eligible improvements (sometimes called "Energy Projects") encompass a broad and flexible set of upgrades, such as: e...
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