Tribune Chronicle / R. Michael Semple A Howland police officer uses a handheld speed camera to check the speed of vehicles on North Road near North Road School. Changes are coming for communities in which the cameras are used, including getting less money from the state equal to the amount of fines collected.

WARREN — Big changes are in store for communities that use handheld speed cameras to protect the public’s safety and simultaneously generate hundreds of thousands of dollars for their budgets.

Approved by lawmakers and signed by Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine as part of the state’s transportation bill earlier this year, the changes that take effect in July will require local officials to adjust the programs in their communities and could cost them state money that bolsters local governments.

The new law makes many changes, perhaps the most impactful being a reduction in local government funds paid by the state equal to the amount of fines collected — except if the fine is a result of a violation in a school zone.

In addition, citations will be issued to a municipal or county court, where motorists can contest the ticket, instead of through administrative hearings, which is the practice now. The law also will prohibit police departments from using the cameras on interstates.

Other changes make the issuing authority pay for the court costs up front and absorb most of the costs unless the ticket was given in a school zone and will require fines from citations in school zones be used for school safety efforts in that community.

The local government funds withheld would be placed in a fund and used by the Ohio Department of Transportation on projects in the community’s transportation district.

The tickets have generated substantial amounts of money for some local communities, but have also slowed drivers down, said officials in the areas with the cameras.

As more people become aware of the cameras, fewer motorists are being issued citations and vehicles visibly slow down as they enter zones with different speeds, said Girard Mayor James Melfi.

“In McKinley Heights, cars are flying past, but as soon as it hits 25 mph in Girard, there is nothing but brake lights. It wasn’t like that before. It is working; it is slowing people down,” Melfi said.

The program generated $1.18 million in ticket revenue for Girard in 2018, Melfi said. Also, the city received $28,550 last year to pay for overtime for officers from Blue Line Solutions, the company that leases the speed camera equipment, sends the citations and handles the collections for the city.

An officer has to be present when the photograph of a speeding vehicle is snapped and has to review each photograph before it can be forwarded to the Tennessee-based company to be processed. The company keeps 40 percent of the ticket revenue, so the 15,097 tickets issued in 2018 provided Blue Line Solutions with $786,740. Ticketed drivers paid $1.9 million in 2018 on Girard speeding tickets issued through the program.

Girard receives around $100,000 in local government funds, Melfi said.

Hubbard Township suspended its speed camera program weeks after it started because of questions raised about the legality of using the cameras on Interstate 80 and accepting money from a private company to pay for overtime for officers to run the cameras, said Trustee Fred Hanley.

The township received about $1,400 in fines before the program was suspended, he said.

Melfi said different rules govern cities.

Howland stands to lose about $200,000 per year, said township Administrator Darlene St. George.

Speed camera ticket fines have gone to the police department to update equipment like vehicles, tactical vests and stun guns. In addition, motorists now rethink speeding through school zones, she said.

Howland brought in $665,026 in ticket revenue between March 2018 and February 2019. The township received an average of $1,934 per month in police officer overtime reimbursement from Blue Line Solutions, she said.

“People say it is a money grab when they have to pay a fine. We are bringing in money, but it is increasing safety and the funds are going toward the police department,” St. George said. “And with a model like this, you don’t have to go out to the general population to pass a police levy. The people not breaking the law are not paying anything.”

But by tying fines to the local government funds the state could be encouraging communities to turn their programs into money grabs by encouraging communities to use the cameras more to account for any loss, St. George said.

That’s not something Howland will do.

“We have to figure out now what the additional costs to run the program are with the added regulations and decide if we can run it with the same integrity we started out with when we started the program to accomplish our original goal. We are not going to increase the amount of time we operate the program to make up for the new costs. If we can figure out a way to continue the program that makes sense, we will. But we won’t lose sight of the reason we started the program; we won’t use it just to generate more money,” St. George said.

In Weathersfield, the handheld speed cameras from November 2015 to December generated $2.8 million and the amount of revenue collected by Blue Line Solutions was $322,266, according to numbers from township attorney Cherry Poteet. The number of citations issued during the period was 26,003.

Blue Line Solutions gives the township police department a “donation” that is applied to general expenses in the department, but Poteet did not provide the amount in an email.

The township received a little more than $90,000 in local government funds from the state in 2018.

In Liberty last year, $208,972 in revenue was collected from 2,947 paid speed camera tickets. The operator of the program there, Optotraffic, received a commission of $92,735, according to numbers from Poteet, who is also Liberty’s attorney.

At the start of the year, Optotraffic agreed to a rate adjustment to pay a “good faith customer credit” of $2,700 per month, according to Poteet. The money is used for general police department expenses, she said.

Liberty received $124,548 in general government funds.

Poteet said the townships are reviewing the changes to the state law and “will continue to operate their programs in compliance with the legal requirements.”

Some anticipate larger Ohio cities that run the cameras will file suit over the new regulations, which could end up delaying the implementation.