Thornton, Colorado dropped the idea of installing red light cameras. The city council was unable to come to a guarantee that, no matter what, the program would make money. City leaders primary objective were to make money with new iniciatives.
“Council’s explicit expectation was that the total costs to operate a Photo Red Light Enforcement system, including service, equipment and city staff costs, were to be equal to or less than the fines received from operating the system, thus resulting in no cost for the city to implement,” a November 2008 memo from the city manager explained.
Australia’s Redflex Traffic Systems and American Traffic Solutions (ATS) , were up to the challenge. Both proposed cost neutral contracts by which the companies would charge for its services based on the number of traffic citations issued up to a cap of $5000 per intersection approach per month.
Affiliated Computer Services (ACS), refused to offer this cost neutrality option because the arrangement “by its nature includes a link to revenue generated by photo red light equipment.” The company warned the city that this requirement was contrary to a state law that mandates that private photo enforcement companies be paid a flat-rate fee.
A voter referendum to ban red-light cameras is advancing to the ballot in College Station, Texas. Rally to be held July 16. http://legal-beagle.typepad.com/wrights_legal_beagle/2009/07/surveillance-technology-changes-law-enforcement.html –Ben