Alexandria may switch the King Street tree lights back on for good, but the City Council is still debating whether the more than $200,000 required to run the lights year-round could be better spent elsewhere. City officials turned off the lights strung along King Street in Old Town last summer as a cost saving measure in tight budget times. Rather than operate the lights year-round, as the city has historically done, trees would be lit for the three-month holiday season between November and January.
This year the lights were scheduled to be shut off on Jan. 31. But at the urging of Councilwoman Del Pepper at a January council meeting, the lights are still on, and may remain on for good again if the City Council approves the necessary funding at its meeting next week.
“I have a lot of warm feeling about those lights because I think they bring a lot of energy to the whole district,” Pepper said. “It’s a statement that this is our Main Street and that we are open for business, and that business is alive and well here.”
But some council members wonder if the budget savings made from turning the lights off nine months of the year can be better spent elsewhere. The program costs $66,000 to run for three months, according to 2010 budget projections, and would cost $205,300 to run the entire year. City Manager James Hartmann will release his proposed budget at the Feb. 8 council meeting.
“Lights are nice,” Councilman Paul Smedberg said. “But there are a lot more fundamental things in terms of beautification and fixing our tree wells and signage that [the money] can go for other than lights all year-round.”
