By Jorge Casuso
March 17, 2025 -- The time it takes to repair a broken streetlight in Santa Monica has "ballooned" from a week to as long as six months, according to a report sent from Public Works to the City Council Monday.
Reduced staffing after the coronavirus shutdown, a copper wire "theft epidemic" and a dearth of equipment and funding have contributed to a growing backlog of work orders.
The number of streetlights fixed per year has dwindled from 1,359 in Fiscal Year 2018-19 to 586 during the past fiscal year that ended on June 30, according to the memo from Public Works Director Rick Valte.
"Maintaining streetlights on a timely basis has become increasingly challenging for the City with the current resources allocated," Valte wrote.
Service requests can take up to five or six months to be resolved due to a "consistent backlog of 150 to 270 street and pedestrian pathway lights that have been reported out of service throughout the city."
Prior to the restructuring of City government shortly after the cornonavirus shutdown in March 2020, it took an average of five working days to repair a streetlight, the memo said.
Public Works will need a $1 million increase in its ongoing operating budget to bring back the full-time electrician lost during the retructuring, add two bucket trucks and replace the stolen copper wire, according to the memo.
The added electrician would allow the Department to redeploy its "inspection patrols" at night to search for broken streetlights, instead of reacting to repair requests from residents.
The funding needed to pay for the maintenance in commercial and residential zones could be generated by creating streetlight maintenance assessment districts, the memo suggested.
If the City Council approves the districts, "property owners may be assessed for upkeep of streetlights on their annual property tax bill."
The increased cost has been in large part driven by the theft of copper wire plaguing the City's infrastructure that includes some 7,150 street and pedestrian pathway lights.
Over the past two years, the City has spent nearly $400,000 to buy the supplies and copper wire needed to replace the stolen wire and vandalized streetlights, according to the memo.
Public Works is requesting $300,000 per year to cover the cost of the stolen materials and $360,000 to cover the labor costs.
"The City had not experienced this level of copper wire theft prior to the pandemic" and "it will likely continue to occur in the future," Valte said.
Last month, police arrested a suspect who allegedly stole more than 300 pounds of copper wire from electrical pull boxes along Colorado Avenue ("Police Arrest Suspect in Copper Wire Theft," February 7, 2025).
And in October 2023, three suspects were arrested after officers pulled over a vehicle and found 500 feet of copper wire ("Police Arrest Three Suspects in Copper Theft," October 25, 2023).
Copper theft has plagued the Los Angeles region, as well as other U.S. metro areas, for years, as thieves target wire and pipes made with the metal, which according to pricing websites currently resells for between $3 and $4 per pound.
In addition to the ongoing thefts, the City has added more than 500 new streetlights over the past decade but has not "adjusted" the budget to upkeep the new infrastructure.
The Public Works budget has also failed to keep up with the cost of "numerous parts and supplies (that) have nearly doubled in price over the past five years."
To address the growing backlog, the Department has temporarily reassigned two staff members from the Facilities Maintenance Division "to tackle the backlog of 270 broken street and park lights."
But Valte cautions that "this short-term solution is not sustainable as there are impacts to City building facilities," including maintaining the light fixtures at public libraries that has been postponed.
