Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Streetlighting topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
City proposes commercial tiers for streetlighting to shift more costs from residential customers
Summary
Traffic and streetlight utility staff proposed five commercial tiers that would raise commercial contributions roughly $3 million; residential charges would remain flat while large commercial properties would pay higher monthly fees under the plan.
Jeremy Gordon, the traffic and transportation engineer, presented a proposal to restructure the streetlight and traffic-control utility's rate classes, saying the current structure undercharges many commercial and institutional users.
Gordon said the utility manages roughly 16,000 streetlights, about 160 traffic signals and tens of thousands of signs, and that signal and marking replacement costs have risen steeply in recent years. The department's revenue-adequacy modelling proposes five commercial tiers (based on lot size) with a base commercial tier near $65 per month and higher tiers scaled by lot area.
"So the base tier would be commercial 1. That would be $65 a month," Gordon said, describing proposed tiers that would produce roughly $3 million in additional utility revenue while keeping residential rates unchanged.
Commissioners discussed whether commercial customers along arterial corridors receive greater benefit and whether institutions should get reduced rates; staff said the new structure aims to align user charges with lifecycle costs for signals, markings and lights and to free sales-tax and general-fund resources for street reconstruction.
Staff will return with revenue projections, public-engagement plans and draft ordinance language if the commission asks to proceed.
