Here is some interesting info from an email exchange we had with David Pearson, who is the Street Lighting Manager for Salt Lake City. We were curious to know if other blocks with lighting followed the same maintenance account model that we do. His response:
The City does not maintain records of who has financial responsibility for the lights. I know there are some neighborhoods similar to yours that maintain an escrow or managed fund to help maintain the lights. Everywhere else it is up to the individual homeowner to maintain. Often neighborhoods like yours have the nicest looking lights where the majority are functioning properly.
I was also interested to know if the private ownership and power responsibility that we have with our neighborhood lights was the same for all of the surrounding streets. He assured me that it is, and sent an interesting map. I’ve highlighted our street in yellow.
Below is a map of the lighting in your area. The red dots represent private lights. The purple dots are City-owned lights. All red-dots are maintained and operated by the property owners. They pay the power bill and must maintain the lights.
Here is another interesting view of a larger section of Salt Lake City, with our tiny neighborhood section highlighted in yellow in the middle of the image. The red, privately owned, lights are more densely placed than the purple city lights on other neighborhood streets. The full interactive map can be view here.
