PEOPLE IN THE KNOW 2014 / STORM & SECURITY PROTECTION 11
Members Get Up to Speed
on Florida PACE Program
The International Hurricane Protection Association
had one its more informative general meetings in
September with four excellent speakers covering general
business related topics and Florida's PACE program, a state
and local government plan to help residents fund energy
security and weather protection for their homes.
The meeting was held September 18 at the DoubleTree
in Palm Beach Gardens. The morning session was presented
by Noah B. Rosenfarb, CPA, author of Protect, Grow
Transfer: The Future of Business Owner Planning. Rosenfarb
gave an overview of business planning concluding with
ideas for preparing for retirement, for the sale of a business
and for passing a business on to family members. Following
his presentation, Rosenfarb fielded many questions from
IHPA members attending the meeting and ended up
staying longer than planned. He even autographed copies
of his book, which were distributed
free to members.
The remainder of the meeting
was largely taken up with discussion
of Florida's Property Assessed Clean
Energy (PACE) program. PACE allows
local governments in the state to
fund qualifying improvements to
property, which include energy
conservation and efficiency
improvements, renewable energy
improvements and—of most interest
to IHPA members—wind resistance
improvements. The funding is repaid
in annual installments over a period
of years through a special assessment
collected on the homeowner's annual
property tax bill. The PACE program is
available to business and commercial
property owners, too.
The first speaker, the meeting's luncheon guest speaker,
was Florida Senator Jeff Clemens who presented an
overview of the program. The nuts and bolts of the PACE
program were provided by the speakers slated for the
afternoon sessions. They were Mark Pierson, outreach
manager for Florida PACE; and Amity Bernard, project
manager for Florida Green Finance Authority.
As with all IHPA general meetings, time was scheduled
to view tabletop displays by service and product providers
and for a networking reception.
IHPA Intell
