With impending litigation surrounding the red-light camera programs in south Florida, Milton city officials, including Milton Police Chief Greg Brand, took the time to further explain some misconceptions regarding the camera system and how the cameras have benefited the city thus far.
American Traffic Solutions provides the red-light camera systems for several municipalities in Florida including Milton.
Milton City Attorney Heather Lindsay said the system’s scrutiny comes from a lawsuit in which a state appeals court stated the City of Hollywood violated state law by relying on a private company, in this case ATS, to issue traffic citations.
“The Hollywood case has seemed to have prompted a lot of this controversy, because it was in the City of Hollywood where the city did not have the opportunity to present evidence of the business rules questionnaire,” Lindsay said. “That opinion is based on the assumption that there was no guidance given to ATS as to how to evaluate images.”
Milton is also among many Florida municipalities named as a defendant in a class action lawsuit against ATS, prompted by the Hollywood v. Eric Arem case. The class action lawsuit is being handled by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.
“Basically where we are in that process is there is a motion to dismiss that has been filed against those plaintiffs that have sued the cities over the program,” Lindsay said. “It is pending, but it is at an early stage. So it has been briefed and we are waiting for a judge to rule on that.”
City Manager Brian Watkins said Milton was named in the lawsuit due to using a ATS system.
Lindsay added the lawsuit against all of the municipalities using ATS is speculative due to the lack of evidence provided by the plaintiff Christopher L. Parker.
“If they had some evidence it would be one thing, but they have none,” she said. “If they were to actually do a good-faith investigation into how Milton does it, they would realize we shouldn’t be a defendant.”
Lindsay is among several city officials stating Milton gave such detailed guidance to ATS, since the Milton red-light camera program began in 2011.
“From the City of Milton’s perspective…we have very specific limitations on ATS as to how they review images and no citation is issued unless one of our police officers has seen the footage showing that someone has run a red-light,” she said.
On average, the police department issues around 200 citations a month from the cameras, Brand said. He also said his officers use “no ambiguity” when making the decision on whether a driver committed a traffic violation.
“If it is not entirely clear, they don’t sign it,” Brand said.
Brand said another misconception of red-light camera programs is they provide a “money-making” source for local government. However, according to Brand and other city officials, Milton does not make any money with the program.
“In the contract we signed with ATS, we made sure that we put in there that at no point should this ever cost the city money,” Watkins said.
Watkins said the ATS contract has a revenue neutral clause stating the city will never look for additional funding in order to supplement the monthly operational costs for the cameras. In this case, Watkins estimated it costs around $24,000 to operate all five cameras.
Should the city not have enough funding from the citations to cover the ATS bill by the end of the year, then the company has to write it off, Watkins said.
Watkins said the city has never made enough money to pay the entire bill for ATS.
“The city has never gotten any money out of this,” Watkins said. “We are a 100 citations below where we need to be in order to be able to pay the bill to ATS.”
From a public safety standpoint, the low number of citations means residents are driving safer after becoming more aware of the cameras. Brand said the red-light program is successful while it has lowered the number of reoccurring traffic infractions in those high traffic areas.
Watkins agrees.
“What we have found is that the people on these roadways have it figured out,” he said. “At that point, I think you can logically say that those (cameras) have done their job.”
Residents, who receive a $158 red-light citation, can either pay the citation online or dispute the citation. Should a resident decide to challenge the infraction, they would then first plead their case before local attorney Matthew Hargraves, who works on the city’s behalf as a hearing officer.
“If they dispute it or wish to dispute it, then they send a notice in and take it before the hearing officer and I decide on whether or not to uphold the citation,” Hargraves said. “If they choose to appeal, they have 30 days from an issuance of an order to appeal that decision to the Santa Rosa County Circuit Court.”
During these hearings, the Milton police officer who issued and signed the citation will be present to give their testimony, Hargraves said.
On a monthly basis, Hargraves said he will hear between two to five cases.
Like Lindsay, Hargraves also believes there a popular misconception from the City of Hollywood v. Eric Arem case.
“I think it is misunderstood by a lot of the members of the public,” he said. “It does put restrictions on how local government can utilize the third party service. That case was very clear when it said that a local government cannot delegate unfettered discretion to a third party provider that is not the local government to do certain things.”
Watkins said the city operates red-light cameras at three intersections with five directional approaches near the intersections of U.S. Highway 90 and Parkmore Plaza Drive, Dogwood Drive and Hamilton Bridge Road, Glover Lane and U.S Hwy. 90.
The City of Milton has more than a year left on its five-year contract with ATS, Watkins said.
This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: City officials discuss red-light cameras, pending litigation