09/08/2026
Questions About the City’s New $2.50 Street Light Fee
We have received several questions regarding the City’s new $2.50 monthly street light fee, so we want to explain why this fee was put in place and where the money goes.
The City of Haskell has street lights throughout our community — along Broadway and throughout our neighborhoods. OG&E provides the street lights and the electricity, but the City is responsible for paying the monthly bill and certain costs associated with the lights.
Currently, the City pays approximately $6,000 every month just for street lighting, and that expense continues to increase as our community grows and additional lights are added.
We are also looking at adding lighted Christmas decorations to the Broadway poles during the holiday season. Before we can do that, the City will need to have electrical connections installed on the poles. Once those connections are installed, the City will also be responsible for additional maintenance, including addressing outages and other issues. These costs will add to our overall street lighting expenses.
With fewer than 1,000 customers, the new $2.50 fee brings in approximately $2,000 per month. As you can see, this does not cover the City’s total street lighting expense, but it does help offset a portion of the cost.
We know that no one likes seeing costs increase, and we understand that every dollar matters. We work hard to keep our costs as low as possible while still providing and improving the services our community depends on.
The City is continually investing in our parks, water and sewer infrastructure, police and fire services, streets, and other community needs. At the same time, the cost of everything the City purchases and operates continues to rise.
We recently completed a rate study, and even with these adjustments, Haskell remains very competitive when looking at the total cost of city services — including water, sewer, gas, trash collection, stormwater, and other services — compared with surrounding communities.
We appreciate your patience and understanding as we work to keep Haskell moving forward while being responsible with the City’s finances.
Our goal is simple: provide the best services we can, keep costs as reasonable as possible, and continue making Haskell a better place to live.
Thank you for allowing us to serve you.
