“Injunctive relief will allow New Miami to serve the public interest by continuing its Photo Enforcement Program that reduces costs, potential of physical injury and disruption to the residents of New Miami caused by motor vehicle accidents and promotes compliance with traffic laws,” Adams wrote.
RELATED: New Miami to sue state over speed camera legislation
The cities of Dayton and Toledo recently won injunctions temporarily blocking the new state speed catcher laws for those jurisdictions. New Miami paused its speed camera program after the new laws took effect and would also need an injunction to resume operating their cameras.
When the new state transportation bill passed, it reduced the amount of state financial aid local jurisdictions receive by the amount they collect annually in speed camera ticket revenue and added a new wrinkle, mandating the courts handle speed camera citations as civil proceedings that include court fees and costs.
The village has collected $1.76 million under the new program that staretd in 2016 but only received $52,448 in local government funds from the state last year.
The law took effect in July, and the village paused its program. The bigger financial issue is the court costs.
Hamilton Municipal Court Clerk Michelle Deaton said the civil filing fee is $85, and there could be other costs. The New Miami speeding tickets were $95.
However, the village only keeps 64 percent of the fine collections, so for the 2,888 tickets paid this year through June — if the law had been in effect all that time — the village would have had to pay the court at least $245,480, but only collected $175,635.
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