Slam brakes on red-light camera fees

In 2009, the State Legislature passed a law allowing red-light cameras in Suffolk and Nassau, and permitting the counties to charge violators snagged by those cameras a $50 fine.

Not $85, the amount Suffolk charged by adding on a $35 “administration fee.” And not $150, the amount Nassau charged by adding a $55 “public safety” fee and a $45 “driver responsibility fee.”

Those fees might be a little too much, and not just for drivers’ wallets. State Supreme Court Justice David T. Reilly recently ruled Suffolk’s $35 add-on was “void as a matter of law” because the state red-light camera law forbids it. The judge did not immediately suspend the fee, because the financial ramifications to the fiscally reeling county are so serious he said it deserves a chance to mount a broader defense.

Time also gives the State Legislature an opportunity to amend the law to allow additional charges, but that would be a mistake.

Suffolk’s fee should be suspended, and ended, as should Nassau’s. Both are unreasonable, both serve to raise revenue for counties too timid to tax, and both build tremendous anger at a program that is saving lives, leading to constant demands from residents and some officials to end the red-light camera program.

Nassau and Suffolk have hiked fees as hidden taxes for years, frequently in violation of state law that says fees can only be levied to cover the cost of the services they provide. Thanks to a $355 tax map verification fee and a $300 mortgage recording fee, the Nassau County clerk’s office, with a budget of $6 million, brings in $45 million annually. Suffolk’s excessive fees on real estate transactions bring in $66 million a year through the county’s Real Property Tax Service Agency, which has a budget of $1.2 million annually.

Suffolk officials say they expect sales tax revenues to drop a least $100 million in 2020 as the coronavirus pandemic stymies consumer spending on mostly everything but essentials, much of which is not subject to that tax. Nassau is projecting a sales-tax collection decline of $136.3 million in 2020 for the same reasons. Both counties also are looking at big decreases in revenue from video-lottery terminals at closed casinos and, yes, red-light camera violations, plummeting as people drive less during the quarantine. And both counties were in fairly serious financial straits before the pandemic ever hit, with projected budget deficits continuing a decade-long trend.

In that context, reasonable fees make sense and are often one of the fairest forms of taxation. In many cases, the people and businesses who need expensive county services ought to be responsible for paying for them.

However, fees that are exponentially higher than the costs they cover are bad for business and bad for taxpayers. They contribute to cynicism and anger toward government.

And they are illegal.

The judge caught Suffolk County in a red-light camera violation. Nassau’s driving its revenue collection in the same reckless manner. They need to heed the law and come to a full stop.

— The editorial board