City advisory committee greenlights speed cameras

Lower fines proposed, but one councilor says it would still ‘hit the wallet hard’

A city advisory committee on Tuesday endorsed the Santa Fe Police Department’s pitch to revive the use of unmanned speed-monitoring equipment to ticket motorists caught on camera driving too fast on city streets.

Santa Fe previously contracted with a Phoenix-based company called Redflex Traffic Systems to post radarequipped SUVs next to school zones and other traffic lanes but let that arrangement lapse four years ago. The top executive for Redflex at the time was being prosecuted for bribery in other states.

And while proponents said the enforcement effort made streets safer with minimal use of police manpower, the program wasn’t uniformly popular. Now a proposal to seek bids for a new contract is working its way through city committees, though with changes such as more relaxed penalties for registered owners whose vehicles are recorded exceeding speed limits.

City Councilors Signe Lindell, Mike Harris, Ron Trujillo and Peter Ives in a resolution earlier this year suggested reviving the Santa Fe Traffic Operations Program, or STOP.

In March, the Public Safety Committee tapped the brakes on the idea, asking police to clarify language in the city ordinance and revisit some details.

City Councilor Chris Rivera voiced specific concern at the March meeting over the cost of the tickets issued by the unmanned SUVs, saying the proposed fines would “hit the wallet hard.”

Under the original proposal, any driver traveling 10 mph above the speed limit would be subject to a $100 penalty. Speeding tickets issued by police officers carry a penalty

of between $86 and $116, depending on how far above the speed limit a driver was traveling.

On Tuesday, the police department presented a lower fine schedule: $50 for people driving more than 10 mph over the speed limit, and a $100 fine for anybody driving more than 5 miles over the speed limit in a construction zone or school zone.

If a driver is caught speeding more than once within a twoyear period, the penalty would climb to $100, with a $150 fine in school or work zones.

“I still have some concerns, but it’s much better than it was,” Rivera said.

The vote to advance the proposal for further discussion was approved by all six of the committee members present. The police department, however, faced multiple questions about the consequences if speeders didn’t pay their fines.

Nancy Jimenez, fiscal administrator for the department, told the panel that the city has $713,000 in outstanding penalties from when the program was running between 2009-13.

The total amount of tickets collected by the STOP program was not immediately available, but Jimenez told the committee that STOP in 2010 issued 6,455 tickets, not all of which were paid. Collected tickets netted $154,000 in 2010.

Language in the amended proposal contains a clause that says police “may” seize and sell a vehicle if a speeder has outstanding tickets.

“We’ve never actually used that provision and had the individual’s vehicle seized,” Jimenez told the committee. “Those dollar amounts owed to the city have, unfortunately, been lingering out there for years.”

The committee and police went back and forth on whether a speeder would rather pay a $50 fine or lose their car. Committee member Peter Mizrahi joked at one point: “If it’s a large amount, we’re going to need one hell of a parking lot.”

Rivera said he did not “100 percent agree” with the forfeiture clause and would pursue the possibility of removing it as the proposal continues through the review process.

The proposal to revive the STOP program must be approved by more committees before it reaches the mayor and the full City Council.