Editorial

Speed-camera fiasco: born of desperation

Posted

When the new school-zone speed cameras program was implemented, it was estimated that it would bring in $30 million. County Executive Ed Mangano wanted it — needed it. All 19 legislators, Republicans and Democrats, voted for it. Now the Legislature has voted unanimously to repeal it, and Mangano said Monday that he would sign the legislation to do so.

The problem? The county’s 2015 budget was balanced, precariously, on the revenue those speed cameras were projected to generate. Remove that $30 million and there’s no balanced budget.

How did we get into this mess?

The county has a $2.98 billion budget for 2015. Its revenue from property taxes is $832.2 million. Its revenue from sales taxes is $1.15 billion. There will be about $975 million in revenue from other sources, including federal and state aid, fines and forfeitures, and county departments. By the end of 2015, it is estimated that the county will owe $3.8 billion in general-obligation bonds.

If all estimated revenue comes in (including a 3.4 percent tax increase), and the county spends only what it plans to and no more, the budget will be balanced, and remain so through 2015. If sales tax revenue dips, if fine revenue is lowered from its projection, if aid decreases, if a catastrophe pushes spending higher, all bets are off. Every dollar in and out has consequence. Kill the speed cameras, kill the balanced budget.

The program’s first problem came when $80 tickets were issued during the summer, when schools were mostly closed. Mangano had to pardon the drivers who were fined. Then, fines were issued all day long, including the middle of the day, when all of the students were in the building. So Mangano had to restrict the operation to a couple of hours in the morning and the afternoon, when kids came and went. Otherwise people might get the idea that the program wasn’t about pedestrian safety, but all about revenue.

The public complained that the cameras were set up without reason, were sometimes situated on streets that weren’t near schools, that no flashing-light warning signs were installed, and that, in some instances, local police and school superintendents weren’t consulted about the best place to put the camera.

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