Representatives from Memphis Light, Gas and Water met with the Memphis City Council’s MLGW committee to discuss why they think residents of planned developments should continue to pay a streetlight fee just like everyone else living in the city limits.
An MLGW presentation packet provided to committee members stated, “If all homeowners and commercial property owners fund the maintenance of city streets, then shouldn’t all property owners fund the streetlights that illuminate those streets? The answer is absolutely yes.”
MLGW presently charges apartment residents $1.08 per month, residential non-apartment dwellers $4.32 per month, small commercial customers $6.48 and large commercial customers $19.07 on a monthly basis. The fees are included in utility bills.
Certain people who live in planned development properties don’t have streetlights in their neighborhoods, which has led to the MLGW committee studying the possibility of certain areas being exempted from the fee. For example, some neighborhoods in a newly annexed section of Cordova currently don’t have streetlights but still pay a fee. MLGW representatives have said they think the area should be exempt from the fee until they receive streetlights.
However, if streetlight fees for residents in private developments are waived altogether, all other residences in the city would experience a slight increase in their bills. Considering this, MLGW provided a potential scenario to reduce the fees paid by those who reside in private developments.
With the 10,000 private developments added into the apartment residents category, fees would change for those dwellers from $1.08 to $1.11 per month, residential dwellers would pay $4.44, small commercial customers would pay $6.66, and large commercial customers would pay $19.54.
The other scenario explored the results of streetlight fees for residents in private developments being waived all-together. This would cause all other residents in the city to experience a slight increase in their bills higher than those previously mentioned. Apartment residents would pay $1.12 per month, residential dwellers would pay $4.48, small commercial customers would pay $6.72, and large commercial customers would pay $19.71.
Nothing has been decided at this time. The current streetlight fees are still in effect.