years for shingles that are no longer good and they will have to get replaced in order to get
insurance; the overall project was about $30,000 and the home value was $84,000, in other
words these shingles were 36 percent of the home’s value; the tax went up 109 percent, but
they are energy efficient shingles; he looked up the annual savings of energy efficient shingles
and it is anywhere from $70 to $150 per year; therefore, this person will save $2,000 on energy
efficient shingles, but will end up paying $30,000. He added that was a good salesman there,
but either way, unfortunately, there is issuing of tax certificates on this one. He explained the
next one is in District 5 for windows; he knows they are expensive but this blew him away; this
is a nice house in District 5 and the project cost was $134,811; this home value is $360,000, in
other words 38 percent of the home is windows; he has built a few houses in his time and
windows are expensive but they are not 38 percent of the home’s value; this is where this gets
scary, the tax bill increased from $4,400 to $14,000; this person has a tax bill that went up
221.87 percent; this house has a $360,000 value and a tax bill of $14,167 and an issuing of a
tax certificate will be going up; and what is extremely important is, remember this is attached to
the tax statement, this is not going bad on a loan, it is attached to the tax bill so these people
will lose their homes; and if that was not bad, he has a non-profit Christian Church that got a
PACE loan of $65,000. He went on to explain the value of the structure is $125,000, in other
words it is about half; this is all new assessment, so it is $1,665 from $0; this is a church that
will be going under and people will not have a place to worship; he reiterated once again this is
on his watch unfortunately; this last one is a District 3 resident and the total PACE assessment
for the solar PV on this house was $53,149 and the home value is $111,000, almost half of the
home is solar; it is too late on this one, the owner has lost the home; these are decisions that
came about because of his inaction, and he can’t fix the past; he trusted some highly paid
lobbyists and now some folks are out of homes and it is his fault; and he just does not want this
to go forward. He continued by saying it is not just him, the Truth in Lending Act which applies
to mortgages and other large financial agreements, does not currently apply to PACE; Fannie
Mae, Freddie Mac, and FHA will not even finance mortgages for homes with PACE loans; the
consumer protections that Y Green previously identified as being in place, have shown to be
insufficient and ineffective by the National Consumer Law Center; the National Consumer Law
Center particularly opposes the way in which PACE administrators target low-income
households; as the Board saw, there are a number of houses that are below that $120,000
threshold; and the bad part is this is not unique, at a more local level, Hillsborough and
Hernando County have both ended their PACE Programs because of this lack of consumer
protection. He stated according to the Brevard County Tax Collector, as of June 2, 2022, there
are 31 delinquent accounts in Brevard County alone; this consists of 24 separate consumers,
six in District 1, two in District 2, nine in District 3, one in District 4, and six in District 5; 70
percent of PACE loans in the State of Florida are used for hurricane mitigation measures which
do not provide homeowners with a cost saving measure that PACE usually advertised; the
majority, as the Board saw, are for roofing or solar; and non-ad valorem PACE assessment in
this County range anywhere from $765, and this is per annum, to over $6,700. He noted he
could go on and on, but due to overwhelming risk to consumers and the lack of accountability
from PACE administrators, he would urge the Board to repeal the PACE Program; in order to
do that the Board has to adopt a motion which was attached; it repeals Resolution 18-040,
regarding the PACE Program and directing the County personnel to take any necessary steps
in furthering the purpose of the said Resolution; there are three or four of these companies;
they were each given a Resolution, so the one that he has would do away with any of them;
and he thinks the contracts require 60 or 90 days that is included in this sort of contract. He
added clearly, they were not interested in consumer protection; this is all on him because he
was the one that believed there would be consumer protections in place and the Board can see
the results of his inactions; and he will be more than willing to answer any questions or provide
specific data on any of the ones that he just mentioned.
Commissioner Smith noted he does not think it is on Commissioner Tobia, he thinks it is on the
people that signed the contracts; how can someone be in house and have some salesman