Street light bill will be separate

City Council members voted 5-2 on Monday to approve the creation of a street-lighting utility. Mayor Dave Kleis said this would replace the cost already being born by residents in city property taxes.

"It's like the city's garbage system. You pay for it in your utility bill so you don't pay for it in property taxes," he said. "In other cities, you still pay for it, but it's in the property tax bill."

Kleis said the street-lighting utility, which will raise an estimated $960,000 a year when it begins, would actually be cheaper for some property owners because creating a utility will allow the city to spread the costs to tax-exempt properties as well.

City Council members George Hontos and Bob Johnson voted against creating the utility, saying they were skeptical that the city's property taxes would go down by the same amount as the new utility would raise.

"I can't honestly see this being revenue-neutral," Johnson said.

How much?

The rates will be based on the number of dwelling units each home has, not on the number of lights outside or a home's proximity to them, Assistant City Engineer Steve Foss said.

Most single-family homes would see $2.40 a month added to their utility bills, he said.

Homes in neighborhoods with more street lighting than usual or ornamental lighting would pay $3.60 a month, he said.

Multifamily housing complexes, including apartments, dormitories, nursing homes and manufactured home parks, would pay $1.20 a month per unit in most neighborhoods and $1.80 a month in a neighborhood with enhanced lighting, Foss said.

Commercial, industrial and institutional properties would pay based on a formula that would mean a maximum charge of $120 a month in most neighborhoods and $180 a month in a neighborhood with enhanced lighting, he said.

City staff have yet to settle on a strict definition of what constitutes an "enhanced neighborhood," Foss said.

Where it goes

Of the money raised by the utility, $140,000 a year would go to paying for improvement and replacement of street lights, something the city is not able to currently do because of budget constraints, City Finance Director John Norman said.

The rest of the revenue will pay for staffing and repair costs.

The city will not begin adding the street-lighting charge to city utility bills until 2011 to assure the public that the change is not motivated by the desire to raise more money, Kleis said.

"This isn't a budget item," he said. "This is a matter of equity and fairness."

Twenty-one Minnesota cities charge a street-lighting utility fee, and 10 others are considering creating one.

The fee would apply to 2,440 city-owned and 2,230 public utility-owned streetlights within St. Cloud.

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