Street Lighting warns of deferred maintenance and pursues assessment ballot under Prop 218 rules

Miguel Sangolani, Director of the Bureau of Street Lighting, told the Public Works Committee the bureau's budget has fallen roughly 13% in two years and staff levels are down 22–23%, leaving substantial deferred maintenance. He said theft and vandalism account for about 40% of outages, while routine maintenance and aging components make up roughly 60% of the problem.

"Half of our LEDs are going to be essentially out of, end of life," Sangolani said, and added the bureau's total field assets are about 100,000 luminaires. The bureau estimated a backlog of roughly 30,000 lights out and said closure rates have fallen this fiscal year from about 70–76% to roughly 31% year-to-date on service requests.

To address recurring failures and deferred maintenance, the bureau described a plan to hire a contractor to develop an engineer's report and ordinance for a Prop 218-style property assessment. Sangolani said the bureau expects to present an ordinance package in March, mail ballots in April and complete the 45-day protest/voting period in May if the schedule holds.

The bureau also outlined roughly $18 million in new requests to fortify lighting assets for major events (including Olympic-related work), pedestrian and bus-stop lighting and other capital needs; Sangolani said the bureau will continue outreach and legal steps required for an assessment vote, which is weighted by property value and treated as a protest ballot under Proposition 218 rules.