Good news for taxpayers: the town will be spending less on lighting up downtown Fairfield.

Good news for the Earth: the town will continue its efforts to go green in this lighting endeavor.

First Selectman Michael Tetreau announced on Tuesday that the town formally entered into an agreement with United Illuminating Company to replace 114 existing decorative lights along the Post Road (from Grasmere Avenue to Thorpe Street) with 30-kilowatt LED bulbs. The agreement also covers replacing or repairing existing poles and fixtures.

The current lamps were installed in the 1980s and their useful life is approaching its end, according to Assistant Director of Public Works Ed Boman, who originally brought the initiative before the Board of Selectman in January.

The $138,060 agreement includes a $15,297 grant from UI and a $100,000 loan from the company. The loan will be repaid in the savings accrued over four years by using the new lighting system, Boman said.

The remaining $22,763 the town would pay into this agreement had already been appropriated in the current year’s Public Works budget, Boman said.

The result is a projected 93 percent in savings to light downtown Fairfield, Tetreau said in a statement released on Tuesday.

The lights will burn for fewer hours than the existing lamps, which are lit from dusk until dawn. The new, lower-wattage lamps will burn from sundown until 2 a.m., seven days a week.

They also boast a lifetime four times the life of the existing conventional bulbs and need only be screwed in -- the town will cut down dramatically on maintenance costs, Tetreau said in the statement.

Once installed -- a process that should take no longer than a couple months -- the new bulbs will provide better lighting for foot traffic in the downtown area, a concern raised by Selectman James Walsh at the Board of Selectman meeting when the agreement was introduced.

Originally, the burn time was supposed to end at 12 a.m., but Walsh pointed out that downtown restaurants and bars are open until 1 or 2 a.m. on Thursdays and the weekends, and the town should be make conditions amenable to patrons and visitors.

Tetreau agreed. “If we’re selling Fairfield, then we should look our best when they [visitors] arrive and look our best when they leave.”

The burn hours were revised before the final time Boman presented the agreement to the Board of Selectmen on Feb. 1, when the arrangement was approved.

Tetreau lauded Boman for his commitment to sustainability in town.

“Mr. Boman has made a career out of finding ways for Fairfield to go green and reduce our carbon footprint.”

Boman is the coordinator for the Connecticut Southwestern Area Clean Cities Coalition.