Brundidge will be seen in a new light now that Whitehead & Associates, an Atlanta-based electrical manufacture’s representative, has completed a lighting retrofit for the city.

The LED lights on Main and East Troy streets will make nights a little brighter and put a little more jingle in the city’s coffers by running on less current and reducing maintenance costs.

City Manager Britt Thomas said the LED lights were made possible with the help of US Department of Energy funds via the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and were administered by the Energy Division of ADECA .

“The project included 104 fixtures and will save wholesale power costs around $6,000 a year,” Thomas said. “That might not sound like much but, over five years, it will be a savings of $30,000 and that’s rather significant.”

The retrofit is expected to increase the lifecycle of the lights by more than 10 years and will reduce ongoing maintenance costs. The energy savings extends through the entire life of the equipment returning the cost of the initial investment in less than five years.

“The cost and availability of well designed and tested LED fixtures made this project a practical consideration,” said David St. John, consulting engineer who initiated the project. “I’ve worked successfully with Whitehead for many years and together we found fixtures that offered a sufficient light pattern at a cost that gave us a full return on investment in four and a half years. “A primary concern with spending municipal funds is getting the most for taxpayers’ money in a long-term solution. We expect to get more than our money’s worth with this investment.”