A speed camera forth southbound Connecticut Avenue in Montgomery County

Andrew Metcalf

Speed cameras remain lucrative for Montgomery County, just the cost of operating the devices rose in the previous fiscal year.

Data provided to Bethesda Beat from the Montgomery Canton Department of Police this month shows that in financial 2016, which ended June thirty, the canton'southward speed cameras brought in $19.vii 1000000 in ticket revenue—$1 million more than than the $xviii.seven million the cameras generated in fiscal 2015.

Despite the increase in revenue, nevertheless, the speed camera program generated $1.6 1000000 less in profits in fiscal 2016 than in financial 2015—$eight.6 million compared to $x.2 million. That'south largely considering the program'due south costs rose from $eight.five 1000000 in fiscal 2015 to $11.i meg in fiscal 2016. The $2.6 1000000 increase in expenditures was the largest increase in the program's expenses since it was initiated in 2006, according to speed photographic camera revenue data.

Police data for speed and ruddy calorie-free camera revenues through FY16. (Click to aggrandize)

Capt. Tom Didone, who oversees the department's traffic partitioning, said the program's increase in expenses was the result of the canton switching to a flat-fee payment structure with the speed camera vendor—Xerox—rather than the previous per-paid citation format. Under the per-paid citation format, the county provided the vendor with $16.25 per $40 ticket issued, but only if the person paid the fine. Under the new payment organization, the county pays Xerox a flat fee based on how many cameras the canton uses per month, according to Didone. He declined to say how much the fee is because the county plans to put the speed camera contract out to bid in most a year and was concerned that revealing the fee may hurt the county'due south negotiating position.

Didone said the contract modify required the department to reconcile the outstanding balances it had with Xerox before making the change, which resulted in function of the increase in expenses and the subsequent drop in profits. However, he said he expects the annual payment to the vendor to remain larger than in previous years due to the apartment fee contract. The county was required to switch to the flat fee system later on a change in state law, according to Didone.

Related: The 13 Montgomery Canton Speed Cameras that Caught the Most Drivers

The canton deployed near 175 speed cameras in fiscal 2016, according to statistics posted to the department's website. The cameras generated 415,935 citations, nigh an 18 percent decrease from the 507,531 violations generated in fiscal 2015. Drivers are charged a fine of $40 for passing a camera at more than 12 miles above the speed limit.

The county continues to have the highest speed-camera revenues of any jurisdiction in Maryland, co-ordinate to data collected by the state comptroller'due south part. For example, Prince George's Canton generated $iv.6 one thousand thousand in profits on $8.v meg in revenue in fiscal 2015, the nearly recent yr for which the comptroller has speed camera acquirement figures, while Howard Canton collected $278,000 in profit on $891,600 in acquirement that year.

Montgomery Canton's program was recognized in a 2015 study by the Insurance Plant for Highway Safety for reducing the likelihood of fatal crashes in speed-camera corridors—roadways where cameras are deployed—by 39 percent on residential roads with speed limits between 25 to 35 mph.

"The cameras are 1 of the few things I can say has proactively inverse behavior and worked to make the county'southward roadways safer," Didone said. "The lesser line is that the cameras take caused people to slow downwards."

The county also employs a red-light photographic camera programme that generates acquirement from tickets that are mailed to motorists later cameras catch them running scarlet lights. In fiscal 2016 the ruby-light photographic camera programme'south profits dropped by well-nigh $500,000—from $2.8 meg in financial 2015 to $two.34 million in fiscal 2016. The red-light plan's expenses rose nearly $600,000 in financial 2016—from $1.9 million in fiscal 2015 to $2.49 million in 2016.