According to the Chronicle, the city has been searching for a way to get everyone to pay up:
City officials hope to step up enforcement of Houston’s red-light cameras by getting the state to deny vehicle registration renewal to drivers who do not pay up after repeated warnings.
A quarter of the drivers nabbed by the cameras have never paid the $75 citation. The result, officials said, is more than $7 million owed to city and state coffers.
Under a plan before the City Council this week, the city will work with the Texas Department of Transportation to place a “hold” on vehicle registration renewals until motorists’ red-light penalties are paid. If approved, the plan could take effect before the end of the year.
“There are no consequences for not paying,” admitted Joseph Fenninger, the chief financial officer for the Houston Police Department. The proposed arrangement will finally give the red-light camera program some “teeth,” he said.
Under state law, the city cannot issue an arrest warrant for an unpaid red-light camera violation. What’s more, Fenninger said, the violation does not go on a motorist’s driving record, since it is an administrative violation, not a criminal one.
The municipal courts also will use the “hold” process to enforce other traffic violations, such as speeding or running a stop sign. The court issues some 11,000 such “failure-to-appear” warrants per month.
It’s hard to see how this could go wrong, you know, with the outstanding way the city’s new municipal courts’ computer system is working:
Paul Bettencourt, the Harris County Tax Assessor, says the city needs to move cautiously before using registration holds as an enforcement tool. His office handles vehicle registration on behalf of TxDOT.
“There are a significant number of technical things that have to happen first,” Bettencourt said. “We’ve given the city a long list of items to consider, and we have not heard back.”
The city must make sure its violations data is accurate and updated, and matches information kept by TxDOT, he said.
“Otherwise you send thousands of people on merry-go-round trips,” he said.
Bettencourt referred to the problems the municipal courts have had in recent years with an inadequate computer system.
“It’s still something I want to see they have fixed,” he said. “If I don’t think the data’s correct, I won’t do it. I’ll tell TxDOT not to do it.”
When there’s an oops, will the city reimburse for lost wages, and other expenses related to drivers’ having to clear things up?
MayorWhiteChiefHurtt knew it was implementing a system that had no teeth. The city made this decision so as to get the cameras up and running (and generating revenue) as fast as possible, with as few hurdles as possible. Now the city wants to get the state involved in enforcement; however, the state tells us in ads that we are being good Texans when we register our vehicles on time. So now MayorWhiteChiefHurtt want to throw the problem THEY created onto the state’s plate, and get the state to finish enforcing the city’s revenue stream.
The state should say no, but don’t hold your breath.
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