The city of Lawrence isn’t likely to save enough on its light bill to justify reducing the local mill levy, but it’s nonetheless encouraging to see officials trying to chip away at unnecessary city spending.

In a report this week to city commissioners, City Auditor Michael Eglinski took a look at the city’s light bill and estimated Lawrence is paying about $35,000 a year on street lights that aren’t working. The auditor’s report also concluded that Westar Energy may be charging the city for more electricity that Lawrence street lights actually use.

Westar owns the city’s street lights and is responsible for keeping them in working condition. However, Eglinski’s audit indicated that about 7 percent of the lights are burned out or otherwise not operational at any given time. Westar charges the city for a set amount of electricity it says is needed to operate each street light, whether it is producing any light or not.

Not only that but also the amount of electricity per light set by Westar is higher than the estimated amount many other companies charge their street light customers. If Westar’s charge was near the average of what other companies charge, Lawrence probably could save another $12,000 a year on its electrical bill.

Based on his findings, the auditor concluded Lawrence might actually be better off buying the street lights from Westar and paying the actual cost of operating them rather than Westar’s set fee.

It didn’t take long for city officials to conclude this was an issue worth exploring. It wouldn’t have happened, however, without the factual basis supplied by Eglinski who has been on the job for a little more than a year. It’s pretty tough for the city to go to Westar with some vague notion that it is paying too much for electricity, but, armed with the kind of data collected by the new city auditor, city officials are much more likely to get some attention — and action — on their complaint.

As noted above, a savings of $35,000 or even $47,000 isn’t going to lower the mill levy but it’s a step in the right direction. Good work, Michael. Keep going.