MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) – The City of Minneapolis is putting $1 million into a program to accelerate fixing streetlights in the city damaged by copper thieves.

What we know:

The City of Minneapolis will pull $1 million from its contingency funds to fix streetlights damaged by copper thieves.

The money will accelerate repairs to 450 lights. Mayor Jacob Frey added that the money will in part replace $500,000 in funding for light repair that was lost last year.

Officials hope the money will help them push through a backlog of repairs, allowing the city to hire more seasonal electricians and purchase more material for repairs. They hope the can get that done by November.

The 450 that are out represent about two percent of the city’s 22,000 streetlights, officials said.

The backstory:

Copper thefts have long been an issue for the Twin Cities. In 2023, the City of St. Paul told FOX 9 rampant thefts were slowing its efforts to fix streetlights, despite mitigation efforts.

In January 2024, the City of Minneapolis said it was using more aluminum wiring in streetlights, which is worth less than copper. They put $250,000 towards that effort. Months later, St. Paul police busted a group they said was responsible for organized copper thefts in the Twin Cities.

What they’re saying:

Speaking on Thursday, Minneapolis officials said, despite their efforts, and state legislation aimed at to stop the issue, copper thefts are still an issue.

“This is absolutely a core function of city government, to be able to provide lighting, to be able to make sure our infrastructure is in good repair,” said City Operations Officer Margaret Anderson Kelliher. “Unfortunately, we had hoped that maybe with state law changes and other things, copper wire theft would go down. That has not been the case at this point and so we need to do something here to help our residents.”

Mayor Frey also warned would-be thieves: “There’s a couple pieces that you should be considering if you yourself are considering stealing copper wire from these streetlights. The first is you might break into the light and there will be no copper wire there and that is increasingly the case. The second is we’re going to be watching and if you’re breaking into our light posts there will consequences. So again, there’s a lesser likelihood that you will make any money off of the profit, because there’s no copper there that there is a much greater likelihood that your going to get caught. It’s something that we’re going to be paying attention to.”

What you can do:

You can call 311 if you know about a light that is out. Officials say it’s hard to keep track of every light that is out if people don’t report them.