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.