Initially proposed in California in 2005, property assessed clean energy, or PACE, was seen as a way for a property owner to avoid prohibitively high up-front costs to have solar arrays installed on their homes or buildings. Property owners instead would make payments along with their property taxes.

Starting with BerkeleyFIRST in 2008, legislation authorizing PACE programs soon spread to 30 states and the District of Columbia.

Then the Federal Housing Finance Agency announced that the PACE senior lien status was incompatible with the provisions of its two federal home lender programs, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and that neither should buy mortgages with PACE assessments.

While owners of multi-family dwelling complexes and commercial properties could pay for solar panels through property assessments, individual homeowners with federal agency loans could not.

However, new developments have made funding available to finance clean energy and water conserving improvements more accessible, and the Home Energy Renovation Opportunity (HERO) PACE program is one.

Tuesday night, Benicia City Council will decide whether to become an associate member of the Western Riverside Council of Governments so that city homeowners can participate in the California HERO PACE program.

“There is no up-front cost to participating cities, and the program is completely run and managed by HERO, who administered the program for the Western Riverside Council of Governments,” City Manager Brad Kilger wrote in a May 7 report to the Council.

“Benicia would be the second city in Solano County to join as an associate member,” he wrote. Vacaville became a member March 17, he wrote.

Should the Council approve, Benicia residents may be able to apply for property-assessed funding for clean energy and water conserving improvements before the end of the year, Kilger wrote.

California’s PACE program is administered by four private organizations, of which HERO is one, he wrote; the others are Renewable Funding, Ygrene and Fig Tree Energy Resource Company.

“The HERO program has been very successful in Western Riverside County since its launch in late 2011,” Kilger wrote.

The program has approved more than $842 million in applications and has funded more than $206 million in projects, he wrote.

“Because of its success, the California HERO program was developed as a turnkey program to save other California jurisdictions time and resources in developing a stand alone program,” Kilger wrote.

Jurisdictions, such as Benicia, can join by passing a resolution such as the one the Council will consider Tuesday, and little city staff time would be required for the program, he wrote.

For property owners who want to buy solar arrays, the improvements would be financed through bonds issued by the joint powers authority. In this case, that would be Western Riverside Council of Governments, Kilger wrote.

The bonds are secured by a voluntary contractual assessment levied on the property. Payment obligations stay with the property, so if it’s sold, the new owner repays the loan.

In addition to energy savings and easier access to energy- and water-saving improvements, Kilger wrote, Benicia and its residents could benefit through an increase in local jobs, higher housing prices and an increase in sales, payroll and property tax revenues.

Besides solar panel installations, improvements a property owner could make under HERO PACE would be the installation of solar inverters, solar water and pool heating, small wind turbines, energy storage systems, electrical vehicle charging stations and stationary fuel cell power systems.

High-efficiency heating, ventilation and air-conditioning projects also can qualify, as do some window shading, cool-wall and roof coatings, various insulation projects, energy-efficient water heating and pumping, energy-efficient lighting and efficient outdoor water irrigation, including a graywater system that meets state codes.

Benicia City Council will meet in a closed session at 6 p.m. Tuesday to meet with labor negotiators. The regular meeting starts at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the Council Chamber of City Hall, 250 East L St.