JEFFERSON COUNTY, Ohio

The village of Mingo Junction is looking to save money by turning off street lights, roughly $60,000 to 70,000 a year.

Council will ultimately make the final decision after receiving a recommendation from the street committee.

But on Tuesday night, officials asked for opinions from the public.

Some residents first wanted some clarification.

"Park lights will be turned off? Cemetery lights will be off? Marina lights will be off? Going down through town all of those lights will be off too? I just wanted to understand this right," said one man during the meeting.

The street lights are run by American Electric Power and the village can no longer foot the bill, so they have three options on the table.

The first, keeping the traffic lights in town running, and asking residents to pay a utility feel of $11 per month to have street lights near their home running.

Mayor Ron DiCarlo supports that option.

The second option would be to turn the lights off and impose no additional utility fee.

The third option, keep the lights on and include a mandatory fee for all residents.

"We would have to impose a $4 fee on each family, or water account user in order to collect enough money to pay for the lighting," said Councilman John Fabian.

The majority of the people at the meeting backed the third option.

The street committee will give a final recommendation on which option they decide to go with and council will take a vote.

If council votes in favor, they will be able to test out the program for a year and see if changes need to be made.

This is all to cut costs in the 2013 budget.

Council is expected to meet Friday to make personnel decisions for the new year.