CORRECTION: A story published April 20, 2024 on BarrieToday was based on an incorrect premise, that a proposed $17 administrative penalty would be added to Barrie’s automated speed enforcement (ASE) camera tickets. However, the $17 is the cost to city taxpayers to process a ticket under the administrative penalty program, versus the $55 it costs to process the ticket in the traditional court system. BarrieToday regrets the error and any confusion it caused.
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A $17 administrative penalty could save the city money on its automated speed enforcement (ASE) cameras system.
City councillors will consider a motion Tuesday to that effect, to help pay for administering the speed cameras that have been operational since early December.
Every 40,000 speeding violations issued would cost the city $680,000 to process in this administrative penalty program, while it would be $2.2 million in a traditional court - resulting in approximately $1.52 million in savings for the city.
“The driver/owner does not pay for it. It is not included in the speeding ticket,” said Scott LaMantia, the city’s manager of marketing and communications. “It is the cost of running the program.
“And by changing to the administrative penalty process…(there’s) a projected average savings of $38 per infraction issued on operating costs. These are normal processing fees on every ticket.”
Municipalities are granted authority under the Highway Traffic Act for an administrative penalty related to ASE violations.
ASE is a system that uses a camera and a speed-measuring device to detect and capture images of the licence plates of vehicles travelling faster than the posted speed limit in school or community safety zones.
Barrie’s ASE cameras were located eastbound on Big Bay Point Road near Willow Landing and St. Michael the Archangel Catholic elementary schools, and southbound on Anne Street North, near Portage View and Nouvelle-Alliance schools, last Dec. 1.
The ASE cameras were moved to northbound Essa Road near Timothy Christian School, and westbound on Ardagh Road in the vicinity of Heritage Baptist Church, near the end of February.More than 9,200 ASE tickets were processed for the initial three months of Barrie’s speed cameras program. As with a traditional speeding ticket issued by a police officer, the vehicle owner has the opportunity to take the matter to trial by pleading not guilty within the legislated time frame.
The volume of violations has resulted in more than a 100 per cent increase in the workload for court administration staff for in-person traffic, and a 75 per cent increase in phone calls.
The city would hire two screening officers/junior prosecutors, funded by additional ASE revenue, with further authorization to hire one officer per additional 40,000 speed violations issued in Barrie, along with hearing officer services for as much as $60,000, again funded by additional ASE revenue. And the city’s Cedar Pointe offices would be renovated, costing $100,000, for the screening and hearing officers required for the administrative penalty program; this would be funded from the city’s tax capital reserve, but eventually offset by revenue from the ASE program.
