By David Skolnick

skolnick@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

The Youngstown Police Department’s speed-camera program has added about $100,000 to the city’s general fund in the past two months with additional revenue still to come.

As of Friday, 1,184 motorists cited for speeding by police officers have paid the fee, said Lt. William Ross, head of the city police department’s traffic unit, which operates the speed-gun program.

Ross said to use $125 per citation – the amount ranges from $100 to $150, depending on the speed – to estimate how much money has been paid.

Using that amount, $148,000 has come in from those cited for speeding with the city keeping 65 percent, or $96,200. The rest, $51,800, went to Optotraffic, the Latham, Md., company, that provided the speed guns and is processing and mailing the citations.

Using radar guns with cameras to catch speeders, the police department has cited 3,334 people since the start of enforcement Aug. 18, including 275 between Oct. 17 and Friday. Police also issued warnings to 158 motorists between July 15 and Aug. 17.

Most of those cited have received letters to pay the fees, Ross said, so there are about 2,000 motorists cited by the police who will either pay or file an appeal.

Using the speed guns, officers point them at vehicles, and civil fee-citations are given rather than police stopping speeders and giving moving-violation tickets with a fine and points on their driving records.

Speeders face penalties of $100 for driving up to 13 mph over the speed limit, $125 for 14 to 19 mph over the limit, and $150 for at least 20 mph over the limit. Police records show the city issues citations for vehicles that go at least 12 mph over the limit on highways and at least 10 mph over the limit in school zones.

Also, as of Friday, only 64 people who received citations have requested an appeal hearing, Ross said.

“I figured a lot more would challenge it, but apparently not,” Ross said. “I figured I’d have a couple hundred, but it hasn’t panned out.”

Gene Fehr, an attorney and former Mahoning County Common Pleas Court magistrate, will hear objections to the citations.

Fehr will start hearing cases in either the second or third week of November, Ross said.

The 275 citations issued this week are up from 45 last week and 166 the week prior.

That’s because officers were on speed duty a day or two on the previous weeks and three days this past week, Ross said.

Since the start of the program, there were four officers trained on the equipment. Six other officers were trained and will be on speed-gun duty next week. Ross said he’s training six other officers.

“I’d anticipate [the number of citations] will go up” with the new officers, he said.

Enforcement is in school zones and on highways. The location of most of the tickets is on Interstate 680 between South Avenue and Meridian Road, a high-accident location with a speed limit of 50 mph.