Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Bureau of Street Lighting warns repair times could lengthen to 2–3 years without new assessment
Summary
Bureau director Miguel Sandelan told the City Council's budget committee that the bureaufaces growing repair delays, insufficient assessment revenue and proposed a ballot assessment to raise funds; council members asked for budget memos on offsets, DWP MOU impacts and timing for a ballot process.
The Bureau of Street Lighting told the City Council Budget and Finance Committee on May 2 that current funding and rising costs threaten to extend repair times for outages and physical damage from the present eight-to-nine months to one year by fall, and possibly two to three years next fiscal year without new revenue.
In a presentation, Bureau Director Miguel Sandelan said the bureau now operates with high efficiencynoting a nearly complete LED conversion that saves about $10 million a year in power costsbut that revenue from the property assessment that funds the bureau has been flat since a 1996 assessment reset. "We collect $45 million and need well over $100 million," Sandelan said, and he said the bureau plans to pursue a ballot assessment this summer to raise sustainable funds.
Why this matters: the bureau manages streetlight repairs, theft-prevention fortification programs and critical pole and conduit replacements across Los Angeles. Longer repair times affect public safety, nighttime street lighting and liability exposure from deferred maintenance.
Sandelan told the committee…
Already have an account? Log in
Subscribe to keep reading
Unlock the rest of this article — and every article on Citizen Portal.
- Unlimited articles
- AI-powered breakdowns of topics, speakers, decisions, and budgets
- Instant alerts when your location has a new meeting
- Follow topics and more locations
- 1,000 AI Insights / month, plus AI Chat
