Yesterday, the El Paso County Commissioners Court, led by County Judge Veronica Escobar, unanimously adopted the PACE program and selected the Texas PACE Authority (TPA) to administer the program. El Paso is the 5th Texas County to adopt a county-wide PACE program. All Texas counties and cities creating PACE programs use the PACE in a Box model – the open market PACE program with uniform documents and best practices designed to assist business owners interested in addressing delayed maintenance with energy and water efficiency improvements and onsite generation improvements. The voluntary program is designed to maximize economic development benefits throughout the County and is the only PACE model program designed by volunteer stakeholders. Uniform programs in Texas enable businesses with multiple properties throughout Texas to use one process and uniform documents to work with one lender on multiple properties in multiple jurisdictions.
“The City of El Paso is full of beautiful, historic buildings and the County includes vibrant rural areas, dairy farms and industrial properties that are part of the new PACE economy and help demonstrate the value of PACE financing for rural and urban businesses and communities,” said Charlene Heydinger, president of the Texas PACE Authority. “We appreciate El Paso County’s leadership role in establishing a PACE program, and we are delighted with this opportunity to serve the El Paso community,” said Heydinger.
El Paso County encompasses the farthest north/west tip of the Texas & Mexico border. Cameron County (Brownsville) at the southeastern end of the Texas & Mexico border also adopted a PACE program. TPA looks forward to working with stakeholders to make PACE available to property owners in all the border counties in between Cameron and El Paso Counties and throughout the rest of Texas.
Deborah Camp
