Bankruptcy Judge Steven Rhodes on Friday approved a $210-million financing arrangement for overhauling the Detroit’s antiquated lighting system, the Detroit Free Press reported on Saturday. The judge’s order is expected to give confidence to the credit markets to lend the repair money to Detroit’s new Public Lighting Authority. The authority was formed as a separate entity from city government because Detroit was too broke to borrow money on its own to rebuild and downsize the 88,000-fixture street lighting system, which has an estimated worst-in-the-nation outage rate of 40 percent. The lighting authority plans to use $12.5 million per year in revenue from Detroit utility taxes as backing for the $60 million in short-term notes and a subsequent $150-million bond issue.
