M'burgh Village to Get New LED Streetlights by Spring

By David Avitabile

MIDDLEBURGH - The Village of Middleburgh should be getting more than 130 new LED streetlights by April.

Trustee Bob Tinker announced at Monday night's village board meeting that National Grid will be replacing between 134 to 139 streetlights by next April. The changeover should take about a week.

The changeover should have started three years ago, he said, as National Grid had promised to replace burnt out bulbs with LED but found out they had leftover old-style lights and used them instead, he said.

The conversion, which was approved Monday, will cost $11,716,.24, but with a rebate, the final cost to the village will be $4,711.24.

The new lights will be brighter and the village will save on electricity charges, but the proposed National Grid rate hike increase in facility charges will wipe out most of the village's savings, officials said. The village breaks about even, with a possibility of savings, Mayor Tim Knight said.

The brighter lights are very important, Trustee Tinker said.

"People walking their dogs at night with no sidewalks, it's dangerous," he said.

The lights will be brighter in the business district, by the elementary schools, and the Methodist Church. The decorative lights will also be brighter.

Currently, there are nine lights in the village. Trustee Tinker noted that LEDs should last much longer. "We shouldn't have any more of that...We're headed in the right direction."