Oregon to consider expanding energy district

         Oregon City Council on Monday will consider an ordinance that will expand its Energy Special Improvements District (ESID) to include residential properties.
        Toledo, Oregon, Maumee, Northwood, Perrysburg, Sylvania, Whitehouse, Monclova Township, Springfield Township, Swanton, Sylvania Township, and the Ohio Advanced Energy Improvement Corporation joined together to establish an ESID on March 13, 2017.
        ESIDs are voluntary organizations of municipal corporations, townships, and property owners who undertake special energy improvement projects that benefit real property and finance those special energy improvement projects through voluntary special assessments.
        Recent changes in Ohio Law will allow the city to expand its ESID program beyond commercial properties to now include residential properties.
       
Energy upgrades
        The program will allow Oregon residents to make energy upgrade investments in their homes financed through the Toledo Lucas County Port Authority. The funding from the Port Authority will then be paid back through a special assessment process. The two primary purposes of the program are to help improve the energy efficiency of the residential properties, as well as to make it easier for Oregon residents to invest in their homes ensuring long term, stronger property values. The program will be operated at no cost or risk to the City of Oregon.
        “For quite a few years, there’s been an exploration to see how we could expand the district to include a residential program,” said City Administrator Mike Beazley at a committee of the while meeting on Monday.
       
Save energy
        “The objectives are very simple: To make it easier for people to save energy on their homes, and to encourage residents in our region to invest in their properties so that they stay in a strong condition. It will improve property values in our community,” said Beazley. “We feel good that after quite a number of years working on this, the program will allow us to move forward with that. It’s a Port Authority program that has no risk to the city. We simply have to grant our authority for a special assessment to our home properties. The Port Authority goes through the process, does all the underwriting. It depends on the nature of the project and the credit worthiness of the applicant. If someone needs HVAC improvements, roofing, windows, or lighting, this will make it easier for them to choose to invest in their properties rather than just walk away and we would have another blighted property. We don’t have the challenge of blighted properties that many communities across the region have, but it’s a tool that can be available to our residents if they want it.”