The staggering numbers are in for the first year of Kent’s traffic camera program to catch speeders in school zones.
Kent Police issued 8,417 citations worth fines of $1.47 million in 2014 from cameras at Sunrise and Neely-O’Brien elementary schools, according to city reports. The city collected $927,543 in revenue last year from those fines.
Tickets cost $124 for drivers 1 to 9 mph over the 20 mph limit and $248 for drivers 9 mph or more over. The cameras operate for 30 minutes in the morning before school and 30 minutes in the afternoon after school.
Last week, the City Council approved expanding the program to Meridian and Millennium elementary schools starting in the fall. A recent one-day study of drivers past those schools showed 201 violations at Millennium and 171 at Meridian.
“The perception is this is a way for the city to make money but I want to make clear it (revenue) goes back to support the program and stays in the police department for programs,” said Council President Dana Ralph at the Council’s Public Safety Committee meeting on April 14 when Police Chief Ken Thomas recommended expanding the program.
Arizona-based American Traffic Solutions (ATS), Inc., which has a five-year contract with the city to provide the camera services that include the equipment as well as mailing out tickets, performed a one-day study at five schools with potential to expand the cameras. The other schools considered were Horizon, Springbrook and Meadow Ridge elementary, but the number of vehicles over the speed limit at those schools were lower than the numbers at Meridian and Millennium.
The city pays $182,000 per year to ATS for the cameras at Sunrise and Neely-O’Brien, Thomas said. A contract with ATS for the two additional schools has not yet been finalized.
“As I reviewed closer these numbers (in the ATS study) were from one specific day not over a month or weeks but one day which makes the numbers very significant,” Thomas said at the committee meeting. “If we multiply the numbers out to 20 school days per month that’s a lot of vehicles traveling fast through the school zones.”
Thomas emphasized revenue wasn’t the reason the city began using cameras to catch speeders at the request of the Kent School District.
“It’s important to note the purpose when we started this program was to improve the safety of our kids,” he said.
Councilman Jim Berrios asked Thomas if he had numbers to show whether the cameras are getting the results to slow down drivers.
But after just 15 months of the program, Thomas said there isn’t enough information to make accurate comparisons.
“There has not been enough time for a legitimate study,” Thomas said. “We have wildly inconsistent numbers. In January we had almost half as much violations compared to January last year, but February numbers are about the same as February last year. It’s too early to give a solid answer. We don’t have enough data.”
The difference in the amount of revenue ($927,543 collected by the city in 2014 and the total worth of the citations ($1.47 million) has to do with when the city actually counts the citations as revenue.
“We book revenue only when citations are paid and cash is received,” said City Finance Director Aaron BeMiller in an email. “Reasons for the difference between the amount of citations issued and revenue received include: individuals are allowed to present any mitigating circumstances to a (Kent Municipal Court) judge, which could have an impact on the amount collected, and others may simply choose to not pay the fine.”
Berrios asked Thomas if the city’s police, law and municipal court can handle two more schools.
“We met with all of the stakeholders and there is a lot of confidence that each one of the departments could take on two additional schools,” Thomas said.
The city has a balance of $874,453 in the school traffic camera fund through March 31, BeMiller said. By city ordinance, funds are used to cover the cost of administering the program. Any additional funds in excess of the costs of administering the program are to be used for enforcement and processing of traffic and criminal laws in the city.
School traffic cameras
In operation
• Sunrise Elementary, 22300 132nd Ave. SE
• Neely-O’Brien Elementary, 6300 S. 236th St.
Coming this fall
• Meridian Elementary, 25621 140th Ave. SE
• Millennium Elementary, 11919 SE 270th St.
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