Curtis Calder, Meridianeconomic development administrator, told the City Council on Jan. 6 that IdahoCPACE (Commercial Property Assessed Capital Expenditure) enables counties and municipalities to establish a voluntary program allowing owners of eligible commercial property to access long-term private financing for qualifying capital improvements. Calder said IdahoCPACE is established in 2024 legislation that created a new chapter 38 in Title 7 of the Idaho Code and that it allows local governments to define resiliency projects and set program rules.

"If you were to Google the term CPACE, the 'C' and the 'E' would mean clean energy in most cases. But in Idaho it stands for capital expenditure," Calder said, and he summarized qualifying improvements as measures that decrease energy or water consumption, add renewable generation, increase resilience (storm retrofits, wind resistance, energy storage), or remove lead from drinking water.

Council members pressed staff on whether CPACE would meaningfully lower financing costs for projects, who absorbs administrative time, and how the assessment lien (which takes priority over existing mortgages except tax liens) affects lenders and mortgage holders. Councilman Strader said he was "pretty lukewarm" about adopting a program without clearer economic benefit and cited concerns about operating costs and administrative burden. Councilman Schaeder, who said his background is in capital markets, asked for a concrete example of the financing package used successfully and said he would need to review loan documentation to be comfortable moving forward.

Calder said implementation would likely take 60 to 90 days to draft program rules and guidance, and he identified two near-term choices for council consideration: (1) appoint the city or a third-party as program administrator; and (2) craft a service-fee structure that reimburses actual costs but does not make the program a profit center. He noted statutory limits on local fees (a $500 application fee cap and servicing fees of 1% not to exceed $50,000) and said Rexburg was the only Idaho jurisdiction to date that finalized a CPACE transaction (a $15 million financing for a 360-unit multifamily project).

Members expressed interest in hosting external experts. "I think having someone from the development community that's actually executed some of these types of agreements as well as somebody from the lending side would answer a lot of the questions," Calder said. Several council members urged staff to schedule a follow-up presentation with developers and lenders who have executed CPACE transactions and to explore third-party administration options to limit city staff time.

The council did not adopt any program documents or resolutions at the meeting. Calder said he would return in short order with more information and potential outside presenters for a deeper briefing and recommended next steps.

Next steps: staff will schedule follow-up briefings with subject-matter experts and return with recommended program rules and a discussion of administration and fee structures.