By RUSS OLIVO

WOONSOCKET — While the City Council approved a budget-balancing initiative to save $100,000 by reducing street lighting nearly three months ago, members of Mayor Susan D. Menard's administration are raising questions about whether the effort will ever see the light of day.

Administration/Public Works Director Michael Annarummo said he is still exploring the feasibility of the program only because the council instructed him to do so. But Annarummo said the program might not achieve the council's target savings and is sure to trigger concerns over public safety.
“I'm going to pursue it for the council's edification,” said Annarummo. “It's unpopular with residents, and it's unpopular with the police.”
The City Council voted to eliminate some 22 percent of the city's $450,000 street-lighting budget in June in attempts to balance the $113.6 million budget for fiscal 2010 and rein in tax hikes.
At the time, Annarummo said, councilors seemed to be under the impression that automatic timers control street lights, but turning them off is actually far more labor-intensive than flipping some remote, computer-driven switch.
Street lights are equipped with light sensors that automatically turn on and off in response to amount of natural lighting present.
The only way to reduce the amount of electricity consumed by a street light is to turn it off completely by manually placing an opaque lid over it to block out all natural light — a process engineers at National Grid call “red-capping,” according to Dave Graves, a spokesman for the utility.
“They go off when it gets light and they go on when it gets dark,” said Graves. “It's that simple.”
Annarummo said the proposal under review would leave the lights untouched on main roads like Park Avenue, while half of those on side streets would be red-capped. That would leave roughly one light per 300 feet on side streets, compared to the current ratio of one per 150 feet.
The public works director said he has met with engineers  from National Grid on more than one occasion but the company has not yet been able to tell him how much the street-light reduction program would save the city in electricity costs.
National Grid says at least one other community in Rhode Island – Tiverton – and several in Massachusetts have already turned off some street lights in attempts to trim their energy budgets.
“There's no doubt, we've had some complaints,” said Tiverton Public Works Director Stephen Berlucchi.
While Berlucchi couldn't cite any specific figures, he said the town's street-light reduction program has been successful in achieving some savings. He said the program had also won the support of Tiverton Police Chief Thomas Blakey, whose input was critical in deciding where the elimination of street lighting was least likely to compromise public safety.
Berlucchi said Tiverton Town Administrator James C. Goncalo would have specifics about the savings achieved through street-light reduction, but efforts to reach Goncalo Tuesday were not successful.
“We are shutting off as many lights as we can in areas that aren't critical public safety issues,” said Berlucchi. “We spend a great deal of money on street lighting and any time you can shut off a street light you save money.”
Woonsocket Police Chief Thomas Carey said members of his department have already discussed the likelihood of a reduction in street lighting and how police might respond. But he said the department would leave it to the administration to decide how many street lights should be eliminated, and where.
If such a program were to go into effect, Carey said, the police would closely monitor after-dark crime and motor vehicle accidents in areas where street lights had been reduced or eliminated. The police department would make recommendations about turning lights back on anywhere a reduction in lighting is thought to be tied to a negative impact on public safety.
“Public safety is always a concern,” said Carey. “You just have to monitor it.”
City Council President Leo T. Fontaine still supports the street-light reduction program, saying the council voted for it because the city's finances are in “a crisis situation” that must be addressed. He says the program was among an assortment of cuts the council favored because they would have the least noticeable impact on the day-to-day activities of city residents.
Fontaine, who is running for mayor, said it's obvious there are places where money is being wasted on excessive street lighting, such as Hamlet Avenue, where a number of ornamental street lights were installed as part of a relatively recent road-improvement project. He said the arrangement amounts to “double-lighting” because the ornamental fixtures and the pre-existing utilities are both in use.
“How does that make any sense?” said Fontaine. “It's not like people are going down there to get suntans.”
City Councilman Roger G. Jalette Sr. said he also supports the initiative, calling it essential for balancing the budget. Unfortunately, said Jalette, it's unlikely the council will achieve its target savings because the public works director has not been aggressive enough in ironing out the details with National Grid. The fiscal year is already a quarter over and the administration still has not informed the council when the program would begin, he said.
“It's not fast enough,” said Jalette. “I don't know that we'll be able to save the money we intended by the time he gets an agreement with the electric company.”
Annarummo said it could be several weeks before he has a concrete proposal to put before the council. He said the city would couch the proposal in the form of legislation that will require the explicit approval of the City Council. He said the city would also solicit the input of residents before the council is asked to make a decision.