Initiative would send red-light camera money to state fund

If Spokane city officials are really putting up photo-red cameras to improve safety, they’ll leave them up if the revenue they generate goes away, initiative writer Tim Eyman said Thursday.

Just days after the Spokane City Council approved such a system for six intersections, the state’s perennial initiative promoter challenged a luncheon crowd to test out the city’s real motivation by signing and passing Initiative 985.

That proposal – if it gets enough signatures to make the November ballot and passes – would send to the state any extra money from a system that sends tickets to the owners of cars that run red lights. The city could only keep the cost to operate the system.

“Red light cameras are sold to the public as ‘This is for safety,’ ” Eyman told the Downtown Spokane Rotary Club luncheon. “The city gets tons of money. The initiative takes all the profit and puts it into a statewide fund for transportation.”

Taking any excess from red-light cameras is only a small part of the initiative, which deals with reducing traffic congestion and calls for opening up carpool lanes outside of rush hours.

After studying the issue seriously for more than a year, the Spokane City Council approved such a system on Monday for six intersections with high accident rates – in part to cut down on accidents, but with the expectation that the cameras will more than pay for themselves. The city will split the excess with American Traffic Solutions, the company that will install and maintain the system.

Not everyone in the audience was convinced the ballot measure Eyman is pushing offers the right solution. Isn’t it acceptable to increase safety and raise money, asked one member in the crowd. Why should Spokane send its money to a statewide fund, rather than keep it and spend it locally, asked another.

Eyman said I-985 sets up a fund to help pay for improvements that are recommended by the state auditor but ignored by the Legislature. “The city could use this money locally, but a lot of times they won’t,” Eyman said. Instead, it’s better to send it to a plan “that makes a big difference,” he added.