Prairie Village is following the lead of neighboring cities like Overland Park, Leawood, Fairway, Mission and Mission Hills in undertaking a move to cut the long term costs associated with operating streetlights in the city.
The city council this week agreed to purchase more than 2,000 streetlights from Kansas City Power & Light. Previously, the city had leased the lights at a cost of $760,000 per year. The city will purchase the streetlights at a cost of $2,282,945. While that price may be substantial, it’s likely to save the city millions in the long run. The annual cost to maintain and repair the lighting system in the city would be just $270,000 per year — an annual savings of nearly half a million dollars over the current lease payment.
The council also approved a plan to converted many of its existing streetlights to energy efficient LEDs. (An LED streetlight pilot program went into effect in Ward 6 back in 2010).
Northeast Johnson County cities have been negotiating streetlight purchases with KCP&L for a few years now. Mission began its process back in 2012.
