well, that's cause the town is not responsible, the lights are owned and maintained by a non profit, independent of the municipality, they normally don't take em down till the end of March to avoid working in snowbanks, they put em up in the beginning of November, they get turned on at Thanksgiving, and off a week after New Year
the town does pay the electric bill however
our christmas lights were a big deal a couple years ago, unique in the way the lights are strung, we were told to get them off the utility company poles, and to keep em, the non profit was formed and a second set of poles owned by the non profit was installed, They fly sponsored banners in the summer to raise $$