Bradford County commissioners voted on Nov. 18 to authorize a commercial PACE financing program and to enter a limited-purpose membership agreement with a Board of Resiliency and Energy District intended to enable voluntary non-ad valorem assessments to finance qualifying energy improvements.

A staff reading of the resolution described the action as authorizing the commercial property assessed clean energy program within the county, authorizing an agreement with the Board of Resiliency and Energy District, and delegating execution authority to the county administrator or designee. The motion to approve the resolution was made and seconded and the board recorded the outcome in the transcript as 3-1 in favor.

A public commenter who spoke before the vote said they had researched PACE programs and was “in favor of Bradford County moving forward with allowing CPACE to be utilized in this community,” adding that state-level bond-financing teams and the Florida Opportunity Fund provide oversight and safeguards the speaker said reduce the risk of predatory practices on the commercial side.

The resolution and the companion limited-purpose membership agreement were presented consecutively. The membership agreement was moved and seconded and the transcript shows the board proceeded to approve it; the transcript does not clearly record a numeric roll-call tally for that companion vote.

Supporters at the meeting emphasized that the C-PACE structure under consideration would use voluntary assessments and that, according to the public commenter, developers — not individual property purchasers — would bear default risk in most scenarios. Opponents were not recorded in the transcript. The board did not attach additional conditions or amendments on the record at the time of the vote.

Next steps identified on the record: execute the membership agreement and proceed with any administrative steps necessary to implement C-PACE in Bradford County. The board did not set a further public hearing on the item during the Nov. 18 session.