Alley lights cost about $9,000 a year to operate

McCOOK, Nebraska -- Eliminating alley lights would save the city $9,000 annually, according to city officials.

During Monday's City Council meeting, City Manager Jeff Hancock said he wanted to clarify his previous comments pertaining to alley lights and said he was speaking about a hypothetical scenario of the city experiencing a budget crunch, "I want to set the record straight, it is not a given thing," said Hancock.

Hancock said his comment pertaining to cutting costs by eliminating the city funded alley lights was brought up as an example of items that could be reviewed for possible cost saving measures in the future, not something that was in the process of being carried out.

Hancock said street lights were a tremendous asset and in reviewing the overall expense of street lighting to the city, it was recently determined that alley lights accounted for approximately $9,000 annually.

During a city budget meeting in July, Hancock said street lights paid for by the city were commonplace in other cities he had managed, but alley lights "were quite a benefit." Hancock told council members at the time that the expense to the city of lighting the alleyways would be reviewed in the future, which subsequently prompted further discussion and Hancock's clarification Monday evening.