One of downtown Springfield’s most visible features each winter — its extensive holiday decorations and lights — will look different than previous years.

A majority of the downtown building decorations with more than 280,000 lights had been installed annually by the Turner Foundation as part of the annual Holiday in the City festivities. But the foundation decided it couldn’t continue to pay $100,000 a year to the install the decorations.

Turner Chief Financial Officer Daren Cotter notified all the building owners in February of the decision.

“At the beginning of the year, we looked at it and made the decision that we can’t pay for everything every year,” Cotter said. “It’s just not sustainable for the foundation, for us, to do that year after year. I don’t think that was the intent when it began, that we’d pick up the tab for that.”

The foundation will allow property owners to use the refurbished decorations. The buildings involved include City Hall, United Senior Services, Security National Bank and the Courtyard by Marriott. Turner is a partial owner of the hotel.

“We’re hoping that everybody will step up and still be able to have it installed and decorated,” Cotter said. “That’s our desire. We just thought we’d share the responsibility with the business owners.”

Holiday in the City, which will be held this year on Nov. 24, costs about $65,000 per year, not including the decorations. About 15,000 people attend the annual event put on by the Center City Association that includes a parade, tree lighting and fireworks.

The Turner Foundation has previously and will again provide a significant donation this year to put on the festival, Cotter said, while the decorations went above and beyond that. He declined to say how much the foundation donates to the festival.

Center City recently received a $25,000 grant from the Clark County Convention Facilities Authority for decorations downtown. The money will go to decorating parts of City Hall, United Senior Services and the Heritage Center or other businesses with hardships that apply.

They’re also still raising money for the event. Donations can be made through the city. They can be reached at (937) 327-7312 or e-mail liveworkplay@center-city.org.

“We’re going to decorate as best we can,” Center City Executive Director Maureen Fagans said. “I hope that people won’t notice a difference.”

Springfield Mayor Warren Copeland said downtown will be decorated, just not to the capacity it had been the past several years.

“People will still see a significant light display, and we’ll still have the grand evening with the fireworks, but we’ll miss some of the decorations,” Copeland said. “Some of those decorations were sort of reaching a point where they’d needed to be replaced.”

City crews will take on additional decorating this year, City Manager Jim Bodenmiller said, including lighting about 50 more trees than it had done in previous years. They’ll light most of the trees downtown, except in the areas near the railroad tracks.

They’ll also decorate the Esplanade, including the large Christmas tree, as they have in the past.

City Hall, however, won’t be decorated as it previously has, with many large, illuminated poinsettias and garlands stringing around the building.

“The city itself has never decorated City Hall, that was done by the Turner Foundation,” Bodenmiller said. “They’re unable to do that this year, which I understand.”

Center City is looking at proposals for a contractor to install downscaled decorations, Bodenmiller said.

“We literally spend two months decorating and a month taking stuff down now with employees who are working on traffic signals,” Bodenmiller said. “It’s very labor intensive. Their regular duty tasks have a much more significant health and safety concern. We need to make sure they’re dedicated to that as much as possible.”

Copeland called the downscaled decorations a reality of the times.

“It’s something we want, to have downtown be a neat place during the holidays. But also at the end of the day, it’s a matter of priorities and a budget that’s tight,” Copeland said. “We’ll continue to do what we can, but we can’t afford to maintain what was there.”

Copeland said he appreciates the fact that organizations and businesses have to make tough decisions on expenses.

“I respect the Turner Foundation for having made the investment they have over the years, and they will continue to support Holiday in the City and other things,” Copeland said. “We appreciate that, but we understand they’ve got priorities they have to set, too.”

The United Senior Services building will keep some decorations it has used in the past, and will install some on their own, including wreaths and decorations in the windows.

As a nonprofit organization, senior services must use its funding for services, Executive Director Donna Frederick said.

“We’re scaling it way back,” she said. “With us (getting the grant money), I think that’s going to make it work for us. We’re not able to afford the whole compliment of decorations we’ve had in the past.”

Frederick praised the Turner Foundation for decorating downtown for several years.

“It’s been a wonderful thing for the community,” she said.

Fagans said she understands Turner’s decision.

“It’s a great and wonderful gift,” Fagans said. “If they’re not able to or have other priorities, that’s what they’re here for. It would be easy for us to get used to doing things the way they’ve been done, but we have to remember that what they do for us is a gift. As long as they’re willing to give, I’m grateful for it.”

Fagans said some of the decorations previously used by businesses will be offered to different businesses downtown.

“The old favorites will still be there and we’re trying to create some new ones as well,” Fagans said.