Red light cameras bring little profit

Austin (KXAN) - It has been two years since the Austin City Council approved the installation of red-light cameras at 10 locations across the city.

Almost 5,000 drivers have been cited for running the red light at I-35 and 11th Street since the camera went up in May of last year. Close to half of the money collected from red light cameras in the city comes from that intersection.

Every time one of the cameras catches a red light runner, the city gets a $75 fine from the driver.

So far, in just a year-and-a-half, Austin has collected almost $700,000 in fines, but the city is not turning much of a profit.

"We find ourselves in a situation, which we do now, with some, actually a very small amount of money left over," said Assistant City manager Rudy Garza.

Here's why: Each of the city's 10 cameras costs $4,000 a month to operate, which totals $480,000 a year. Then, the city owes APD for their man hours deciding which pictures show true violations.

Half of what's left over goes to the state's Victim's Safety Fund. Then the city gets its share of the pie, which goes straight to the city's traffic safety fund, for projects like road improvements.

"There really has not been any specific projects, but again the reason is because the goal from the very beginning was not about making any money," Garza said. "So there was really no opportunity for someone to be in a back room thinking, 'How can we spend all this money?'"

But the city has actually handed out close to $1.1 million in citations. If a person does not pay within 30 days of receiving the notice, the fine goes up to $100. Ultimately, the city turns collections over to a collections agency.

More than 5,000 tickets remain unpaid as of Sept. 15.

For example, of those 5,000 drivers cited at the intersection of I-35 and 11th Street since May of last year, nearly 2,000 of them have yet to pay their fines.

While the cameras aren't making money for the city, they are doing what they were installed for - increasing safety.

An initial study by APD shows crashes caused by red light runners are down citywide, which means more of these cameras could be going up.

"It's always going to be an ongoing evaluation, but to date, the program has paid for itself," said Garza.  "We do believe that the roads are safer and we'll just continue to evaluate it as we go forward."