There are several ways for state and local leaders to promote investments in their communities and reduce utility costs for residents. One tool that has been often overlooked in North Carolina are Property-Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) programs. This post provides an overview of PACE programs and the … Read more

In the fall of 2013, a blog post on special assessments for financing infrastructure included a short description of the Town of Hillsborough’s use of this finance strategy. Hillsborough was the first local government in North Carolina to borrow money and pledge special assessments as security for a … Read more

Special assessments are a public finance mechanism that some may consider “old as dirt,” as use of this public finance instrument dates to pre-colonial Britain and seventeenth-century America. Today, special assessments are often used in many states to back what many refer to as “dirt bonds” to deve … Read more

[2011 UPDATE: For more detail on this topic, see the following 2011 book: Housing Codes for Repair and Maintenance: Using the General Police Power and Minimum Housing Statutes to Prevent Dwelling Deterioration] An earlier post on minimum housing ordinances (MHOs) explained how MHOs can be employed b … Read more