Stoplight scofflaws who were fined by Jefferson Parish's roadside camera system likely will get their money back. But perhaps not all of it, and certainly not soon. The Parish Council voted Wednesday to refund whatever is left in the $19.7 million pool of escrowed fine revenue after it resolves a pair of lawsuits. One was filed by motorists against...
Stoplight scofflaws who were fined by Jefferson Parish's roadside camera system likely will get their money back. But perhaps not all of it, and certainly not soon.
The Parish Council voted Wednesday to refund whatever is left in the $19.7 million pool of escrowed fine revenue after it resolves a pair of lawsuits. One was filed by motorists against the parish and camera contractor Redflex Traffic Systems Inc. of Phoenix, Ariz., the other by Redflex against the parish for more than $7.3 million of the pot.
Council Chairman Chris Roberts, who sponsored the refund resolution, said he hopes the measure will "put an end to a long chapter of questionable dealings" with Redflex. But he cautioned: "I don't want to give anybody the false impression that checks are coming in the mail tomorrow."
In urging refunds, Roberts cited lingering concerns about the fairness of the camera program, Redflex's arrangement to pay its Jefferson lobbyists a share of fine revenue and the company's recent admission that its Chicago camera contract was likely won as a result of a $2 million bribery scheme.
He also disclosed that about 100,000 motorists never responded to Jefferson's camera tickets, suffering no financial penalty even as 180,000 others paid the $110 fine for running stoplights. "There apparently was no consequence for not responding," Roberts said.
The Redflex contract is not explicit on which party was responsible for finding motorists who ignored tickets. In one place, it says the parish and Sheriff's Office "shall diligently prosecute citations and the collection of fines." In another, it says Redflex's obligations included "citation processing and citation re-issuance."
A Redflex representative had no immediate comment Wednesday.
The refund resolution calls for reimbursing ticketed motorists on a pro rata basis once the suits are resolved, but no one knows how much Jefferson must pay to settle the cases. In the motorists' class action suit, the plaintiffs have lost all the major rulings in court, but the issue remains in litigation. In the Redflex suit against the parish, the company claims its contractual share of the fine revenue plus late fees, interest and attorney fees, for a total of more than $7.3 million and counting.
If Redflex won what it is seeking, the pot would be reduced to $12.4 million. Divided among 180,000 motorists, that works out to about $69 each.
The Parish Council's opinion of stoplight cameras has swung 180 degrees since 2006. Led by then-Councilman John Young, the council voted 6-0 that year to give Redflex the contract to erect cameras at 11 intersections. The revenue was to be split among Redflex and several parish government agencies.
Proponents said the system would improve safety while freeing traffic officers from the Sheriff's Office to fight crime. Opponents said the safety hypothesis was unproven and that the cameras were nothing but a vehicle to raise more money for politicians to waste.
No sooner had the cameras gone into operation in 2007 than drivers added new complaints: The caution signal had been shortened, the line marking the intersection had been moved back and there was no person to whom th ey could explain their actions.
But it wasn't until 2010 that the council voted 7-0 to unplug the cameras. That came right after Parish President Aaron Broussard resigned in an unrelated corruption scandal, and after the council learned that Redflex had arranged to give about 3.2 percent of its fine revenue to its Jefferson lobbyist, former New Orleans City Councilman Bryan Wagner. Wagner's business partner was Julie Murphy, who is married to Judge Robert Murphy.
After the Chicago bribery scandal broke March 1, Roberts saw an opening to send back whatever money remains in the fine pool once the suits are settled.
Redflex holds separate contracts for traffic enforcement cameras in Gretna and Westwego. But there has no been no public move to discontinue them there, much less refund fine revenue.