A file shot of one of the North Albany traffic cameras from one day in March.
Albany’s expanded venture into photo enforcement of traffic laws is intended to keep people safe, but it also has a money angle. And so far, the money winner seems to be Verra Mobility, the Arizona company that operates the cameras.
Enhanced photo enforcement started on two approaches at Queen Avenue and Geary Street last November, and then on North Albany Road in mid-April.
I asked Jeanna Yeager, the city’s finance director, how the camera systems at the two very different intersections have worked out as far as money is concerned.
As of April 30, she reported, the city had received $26,720 in gross revenue from fully paid citations. Of the total, $24,800 came from tickets issued at Queen and Geary, and the rest from North Albany Road.
That’s the income side. How about the outgo?
“We’ve paid $11,094 in fees to the state, county, and vendor. Additionally, we’ll have three months of costs ($18,000) for the Queen & Geary approaches.”
Under its contract with Albany, Verra Mobility gets $6,000 a month for each intersection where it has cameras on two approaches.
So through the end of April, Verra Mobility got $18,000 plus a share of paid tickets, and the City of Albany lost about $3,000 on the camera operation. The city council said the cameras were not intended as a money maker for the city. But did the council know the cameras would lose money?
At Queen and Geary, drivers paid $17,905 on 74 citations for failure to obey a traffic signal, with the rest of the revenue coming from 39 speeding tickets. (If the history of that intersection is any guide, most of the signal violations were right turns on red without a complete stop.)
In North Albany, there were 11 citations, all for speeding. “We’re seeing an increase in the number of citations issued in North Albany this month, nearly all of which are related to speeding,” Yeager told me.
According to my arithmetic, the numbers point to an average fine of $242 for running a red light at Queen and Geary, and an average fine of about $175 for speeding there and on North Albany Road.
There was a one-month warning period without tickets after the cameras were installed on North Albany Road, where the speed limit is 20 mph from 7 to 5 on school days and 40 mph otherwise.
After the warning period ended on April 14, the Albany police said on Facebook:
“The month of warnings is over at the traffic cameras at North Albany Road/West Thornton Lake Dr and citations will now be issued. We have seen multiple lead-foot’s that fly by at over 60+ MPH and also some colorblind folks that may not see red lights.”
As a daily commuter, I’m wondering what hours of the day it’s even possible to go 60 on that road. All I usually encounter is traffic that is slow or slower. On Thursday afternoon, approaching the green light at Thornton Lake Drive, someone in front got us all to inch along at 15 mph. (hh)
Looks like another boondoggle but not surprising having watched projects such as the Wells Fargo bank building. Definitely done for revenue which will never meet projections!
A banker told me one time that figures don’t lie but liars do.
So it appears obvious to me that the N Albany camera will not pay for itself and will be another hole for tax dollars.
Hilarious! Ya gotta love it Some folks will whine(!) about it making money & vice-versa. LOL
It’s a good thing the council didn’t vote you back in. If we were your constituents, you’d have to listen to us all “whine(!)”. Do you think your comments here had an effect on their decision? I do.
Why is it that a very *minimal* number of councilors ever post comments here? I’ve been periodically posting for 15+ years and have been appointed & elected several times. .Hou about you? Ahh… You like to hide behind your anonimity & whine. I stand by what I stated…
If you can’t communicate with respect, you don’t belong in our government. You can still ride the carousel though, have fun.
– Robert Harnell Albany, Oregon
Sorry I don’t meet with your approval. The fact that I’ve not lost an election indicates I’ve met with the approval of the majority of voters in Ward 2 who voted.
Don’t worry, they’ll add a “fee” to your water bill to cover their gross negligence.
Some years back, I know if you were Southbound on Geary (don’t know about the other directions) and stopped “briskly” at the crosswalk on a RED, it would trigger the flash. I wonder how many people that had stopped first for their right turn got charged because someone else triggered the light as they were making their turn?
Was this the City Managers idea too?
I agree that this will not pay for itself in the long run. Just finished a bicycle ride through Philomath while school was just being let out. No traffic cams that I could tell, but instead had crossings guards to help the kids cross safely and seemed to be pretty effective. This used to be a standard practice years ago here in Albany, but I guess that seems too antiquated and simplistic. If this new system doesn’t pay for itself, well we all know what will happen…. increase our taxes again!
People in North Albany creep by the schools now. I believe the reason for the cameras was to slow the traffic near the schools. They have been a success.
Agreed, these are no longer rural roads. I see kids riding their bikes along N. Albany /Gibson, people walking their dogs, school buses stopping and letting kids off, and vehicles passing them at 50 mph just a few feet away. You can’t have high density, cluster developments along with highway speeds going through residential neighborhoods, that has tragic written all over it.
Unleash Elon Musk on the Albany’s Deep State. Give him his ruby-studded chain saw and have him unleash holy Hades on the City Council. Pour some more ketamine into Musk’s head and watch as he demands a weekly email from each staffer wherein they must outline their precise contributions. Waste, fraud and abuse will skee-daddle lickety-split.
“he demands a weekly email from each staffer wherein they must outline their precise contributions.”
And the problem with that is what? I have to account for my time on a daily basis, not a big deal. Anyone and everyone should be able to summarize what work they did that they are being paid for.
Yeah, free Ketamine and Extacy for them all! King Elon will share lol
I think I got a ticket yesterday. It was mid day and I was going with the flow of traffic not really thinking about it being a school zone as no kids were around. The blinding flash went off and instinctively skidded to a stop, think I was going 32mph at the time, as I looked down when the flash went off. I’m just glad no one was following me or an accident would have happened. It seems to me if it was about safety they would have installed a flashing school speed zone, for the times there are no other visual clues that it is a school zone other than needing to look at a clock and calendar. What we have out there now is a safety and financial hazard.
Most people I know that have been ticketed because they were in a hurry to get to work. So not only do they get a ticket but get in trouble at work for being late for 5 or 10 minutes. While I agree that it is very important to be on time, people need to stop punishing good people for such a minor offenses. Life happens. Kiddos get sick, traffic is slow etc. and streets are so trashed in some areas of town not everyone can even go the speed limit and end up trying to make up time. The community needs to give each other a break and either push for better traffic conditions or stop using any excuse to abuse people. The point Mr. Anderson made was making safety a community effort rather than punitive. Using other ways to pull peoples attention to their unsafe driving not only increases better driving but pulls them back into positive community involvement despite their everyday distractions and stresses. Even if actual police officers stop people they often just remind them to stick to the laws for safety reasons. Most people don’t want to hurt anyone they just get caught up in survival mode. Any money the city receives will not make up for a lost life or serious injury.
The city could have paid the salaries for two additional officers in these traffic camera areas and still come out ahead instead of paying $3000 a month for each camera.
Oh wait if I remember correctly when these were first talked about being installed the city police decided to hire two more positions banking on the fact that they were going to get money from these cameras to pay for them. Am I remembering that correctly? I know I always rant and rave about these traffic light cameras, but how in the heck can anybody seriously say that this is good for Albany? It’s not
Eastbound traffic on Queen at the intersection of Queen and Geary making a left turn onto Geary have a dedicated left-turn green arrow. Because of this left-turn green arrow, there is no, and can be no, traffic to impede any car wishing to make a right turn heading West on Queen from Southbound Geary.
Reasonably, the City of Albany should install a right-arrow for those drivers wanting to make a right turn from Geary onto Queen while the left-arrow for those cars turning left from Queen onto Geary are in motion. This would be equally true for cars heading Northbound on Geary wanting to make a right turn onto Queen going East.
If the City doesn’t wish to expend resources to install right-arrows, a reasonable decision, it should alternatively make the assumption there is a right-arrow where, other things equal, it is perfectly safe to make such a turn.
As I was photographed by the “red-light camera” and ticketed for making a slow turn at this intersection where it was in fact perfectly safe to do so, I believe the fine of $260 is not only excessive, but excessively so. Not only should there be no fine at all for making this turn, but it should be a lawful turn.
Note: The above was written to the court in 2016. The judge excused my citation. Still no green arrows for that right turn which likely would have been less expensive than the cameras.
Losing money by attempting to create a situation where safety prevails? Perhaps put criminals in charge of this enterprise – they would find a way to make money where law abiding people have failed.
Giving tickets in error to law abiding citizens that obey the law such as Ms. Richner is not law abiding or making it safer. Communicating using the signals is not as user friendly as it should be.
The salient question is: How many lives/ injuries/millions of dollars of damage, did the camara save???? You need to be able to prove that and If you do not see a reduction in some problem, putting ANY more in makes you an IDIOT. And a wastrel of public funds.
Mr. Ray, these posts are not about you or asking for your judgment. People in Albany that do suffer from the council’s decisions are ignored and the lucky ones go unaffected. You get to change people’s lives for the worse without remorse so they have the right to question the city’s priorities. Don’t be flattered by people who vote for you based on the lack of information. Issuing people traffic tickets using an unreliable system is unjust and deserves to be called out.
All money out of our community. Political geniuses. Vote these people out.
I’d rather have drivers looking out their windshields in school zones than watching their speedometer.