Nassau County drops red-light camera ticket fees that court found illegal

Nassau County is no longer charging motorists $100 in administrative fees on red-light camera tickets — just days after a state appeals court ruled the added penalties were illegal, a county spokesman confirmed Tuesday.

A state appellate division court ruled on Nov. 27 the fees contradict the 2009 state law that authorized local governments to establish red-light camera programs and limited fines to $50 per violation or $75 with a late fee, Newsday previously reported.

The court issued a similar decision the same day regarding a $30 administrative penalty Suffolk had charged as part of its red-light camera program until 2023 — a program that ended Sunday.

Chris Boyle, a spokesman for Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, didn't respond to questions Tuesday about whether the administration would try to appeal the appellate division ruling to the state's Court of Appeals but confirmed the county had stopped charging the $45 public safety fee and $55 driver responsibility fee on red-light camera tickets.

Motorists still must pay the $50 red-light camera ticket cost if found guilty.

After several motorists arrived to address their red-light camera tickets at Nassau's Traffic and Parking Violations Agency on Axinn Avenue in Garden City on Tuesday morning, at least one noted that she paid less than the ticket originally charged.

School bus driver Brittany Hinley, 26, of Long Beach, confirmed she wasn't charged the $100 in administrative fees but said a $25 late fee was tacked onto her ticket, bringing her cost to $75.

Hinley said she hoped Nassau would follow Suffolk's lead and end its red-light camera program.

"I think it’s unfair for the most part," Hinley said, who added that there are some people who deserve such tickets but that she considers herself a safe driver.

Rojay Matthews, 29, of Levittown, who said he came to the agency Tuesday to settle several outstanding red-light camera tickets to avoid a license suspension, called the program a costly and unnecessary burden on motorists.

"I think the red-light tickets are a little too frequent," he said of Nassau's program. "But at the end of the day it’s the law so I have to be more careful while I’m driving."  

Nassau earned $64 million in gross revenue — about $44 million from county-imposed fees — from the program in 2022, records show.

After the Nov. 27 rulings, the appellate division sent the cases back to the counties' State Supreme Courts to determine how much money Nassau and Suffolk could owe motorists who already have paid administrative fees. That amount could total around $160 million in Suffolk and between $300 million and $400 million in Nassau, according to attorney David Raimondo.

The Lake Grove lawyer, who represented the plaintiffs in the Nassau and Suffolk cases that went to appellate court, said Tuesday he was celebrating the end of the $100 administrative fees in Nassau, calling them "just disguised taxes."

Tara Mayerhofer, a Mineola-based attorney who handles red-light camera tickets, said Tuesday she has seen in her practice of law that motorists with such tickets in Nassau no longer are being charged $100 in administrative fees.

"The administrative and public safety fees were deemed unlawful so as of this moment they can’t charge those fees," she said.

State lawmakers this year voted to renew Nassau's red-light camera program — which would have expired this month — for another five years after the county's Republican majority in May voted to ask them to renew it, Newsday has reported.

Democratic county lawmakers, who opposed renewing the program because of fees they believed to be excessive, plan to introduce legislation aimed at helping motorists who were charged the $100 penalties recoup their money.

While some Suffolk County officials have praised the end of its red-light camera program, as Newsday has reported, motorists who previously received tickets still are responsible for paying the $50 fine, Michael Martino, a spokesman for County Executive Edward P. Romaine, said Tuesday.

Suffolk brought in $289.6 million in gross revenue from the red-light camera program between 2013 and 2023, county reports show.

In 2023 alone, Suffolk took in about $18.7 million, including $4.5 million through administrative fees and other payments, and paid its vendor around $5.6 million for the program, according to a county report released in July. 

Suffolk motorists who received red-light camera tickets before Dec. 1 still are responsible for settling the tickets, Martino said. He also said Tuesday that the program contractor, Canada-based Modaxo, has yet to collect the cameras.

All Suffolk County red-light camera hearings are held virtually, officials said.  

"The process remains the same," said Martino, who again declined to comment on whether Suffolk would try to appeal last week's court ruling, citing the pending litigation.

Brian Trodden, a Smithtown-based defense attorney who for years has represented clients with red-light camera tickets, said Tuesday the end of Suffolk's program provides a new — albeit narrow — lane of defense he can utilize in court.

"It's a good argument to say, 'Why are you still going after my client when the county had decided that it's not a program that they wish to renew?' " Trodden said. "But I would expect that the traffic agency will continue with these tickets and continue to collect their $50 until those tickets are gone."

With Peter Gill