TOMS RIVER, NJ – Toms River spends about $1 million annually to keep its streets and sidewalks lighted, but now, Mayor Maurice Hill and township officials are seeking to audit the number of street lights in the town. The project, announced Wednesday by Toms River engineer Chankalian will be a multi-phase project over a period of time.
Chankalian said his department doesn’t have a good auditing system to determine which lights work, which ones don’t, or even which street lights exist and don’t exist.
“We really don’t have a good auditing of that,” Chankalian said. “Most towns do not.”
He said the first phase would be a GIS mapping study and inventory to make sure the town is paying the right price, adding he is hiring a firm that found success along the west coast of the United States to do the inventory.
Chankalian claims the effort could save the town $150,000 per year in electric bills.
In phase two, he said replacing existing lights with LED lights could also help the township save money. Chankalian said after the survey, some areas will have too much light and others could need more, but ultimately the plan is designed to save money.
Council President Kevin Geoghegan said one of his biggest pet peeves in town is the number of street lights out around the township, yet under the town’s agreement with JCP&L, the town is still paying for those lights.
Chankalian said the audit to reduce lights, could also discover a need for more lighting in sections of town.