More about the street-light fee

QUESTION: A monthly so-called streetlight fee is charged to and paid by every homeowner and business in the city. Why is it then that literally dozens and dozens of streetlights are out, not working? Some I noticed have been out for months.
Isn’t anybody from the Utilities electric division occasionally driving through town at night and taking inventory of lights that need to be fixed? It sure seems that our services are going downhill fast.
- Martin Frick

ANSWER: According to Colorado Springs Utilities spokesman Steve Berry, the fee does not cover the backlog of streetlight requests and maintenance, some remaining from when the city handed over the responsibility for streetlights to Utilities.
Berry said the fee “has not been adjusted as needs were identified” but there has been “significant progress” on streetlights in areas where “a safety need” is identified.

Because of the size of the city, a resource the department taps is the several thousand sets of eyes of local residents who call to alert the department when streetlights have gone out. Call 448-4800 to add a light to the list.