Clarkstown Closes Deal To Buy Town's Street Lights

CLARKSTOWN, N.Y. -- Clarkstown will be lighting up the streets and saving thousands of dollars at the same time after signing an agreement with Orange and Rockland Utilities to purchase the town's street lights.

Town Supervisor George Hoehmann and O&R President and CEO Tim Cawley sign documents to close the sale of O&R's overhead streetlights in Clarkstown with O&R Assistant General Counsel Jack Carley, Town Attorneys Lino Sciarretta and Paul Schofield.
Photo Credit: *Erika Moschetti*

K Reakes

10/31/2016 4:30 a.m.

Clarkstown Supervisor George Hoehmann said the town will take over 3,912 overhead street lights after paying the utility $658,585.

Clarkstown is the first town in Rockland County to take over the lighting district and the first municipality in O&R’s service territory to do so.

The agreement is projected to save the Clarkstown $450,000 in energy costs and $40,000 a month in utility costs, well more than $900,000 annually.

“I am proud to be the first town in Rockland to purchase our overhead street lights,” said Hoehmann. “Energy efficiency is an initiative I have been working on in different capacities for years."

Hoehmann is also working to convert the town’s landfill to a solar field, the first in New York State.

Now that the deal is complete, the town will begin a bulb replacement program with more energy efficient LED lighting to bring down the cost of energy.

“LED conversions make sense and is the right thing to do,” said Hoehmann. “This is an opportunity to save a significant amount of money to the taxpayers.”

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