Property owners say they fear an energy measure passed by the City Council yesterday could eventually mean they’ll be forced to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to upgrade old buildings — costs, they say, that would ultimately be passed on to their tenants.
“Buildings will get scored, and that will get reported to the city, and if you don’t fall into the top 25 percent, you’re going to be looking at audits and potentially upgrades,” said Gregory P. Vasil, CEO of the Greater Boston Real Estate Board. “How does someone with a big debt load on their property afford that? Those costs will be passed on to tenants.”
The City Council voted 9 to 4 yesterday to approve the measure, which will require certain property owners to report energy and water usage annually to the Air Pollution Control Commission.
“We’re not asking people to retrofit things,” City Councilor Matt O’Malley said. “Increasing energy efficiency in existing buildings is the single most important component of the city’s plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.”
The ordinance applies to all city-owned buildings as well as residential and non-residential buildings that are 35,000 square feet or more, or that house at least 35 units.
That adds up to about 1,600 buildings, or 1 percent of the buildings in Boston, O’Malley said.
The least energy-efficient buildings will conduct an energy assessment every five years. Fines will be levied only for failure to provide the required information.
In 2011, Mayor Thomas M. Menino unveiled his Climate Action Plan, which set greenhouse gas emission reduction goals of 25 percent by 2020 and 80 percent by 2050.
In February, the Herald reported that the price tag for commercial and industrial property owners alone could be $838 million. Of that, about $373 million could be paid using utility subsidies. The mayor’s Green Ribbon Commission expected the remaining $465 million to be footed by property owners and their tenants.
Yesterday, Councilors Bill Linehan, Mark Ciommo and Frank Baker and Council President Stephen J. Murphy opposed the energy disclosure ordinance, which is similar to ones passed in New York, Philadelphia, Seattle, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. None of the councilors returned calls seeking comment.