TOLEDO, OH (Toledo News Now) - The City of Toledo has begun to crack down on red light camera offenders.
Right now, through the city's amnesty program anyone who has received a ticket from a red light traffic camera can now pay without suffering the consequences.
So far, more than $25,000 in fines has come in just in the first week of the program, but it's a small dent considering that the city still needs to collect $21 million in traffic tickets.
Councilman Mike Craig says the city will lose $7 to $8 million with the amnesty program, which allows violators who have not yet paid their tickets to pay only two thirds of the fee.
He says people who have already paid their bill in full have called him complaining that the program is unfair. Craig says if he finds any legal question in the program, he'll attempt to make a change.
"We'll try to modify it, or if worse comes to worse, we will craft an ordinance, or possibly modify the charter to go around this," said Craig.
If you don't pay your ticket before June 7, you could get sued by the City of Toledo.
The city's law director says they've already started filing lawsuits against chronic offenders, meaning anyone with 10 or more unpaid tickets.
City officials say they're hoping they won't have to continue suing people to get their money.
Meanwhile, the state is considering a new way to get cities like Toledo to follow a new state law regarding the red light cameras.
The House has added a new plan to the state budget that would require communities using the cameras to report how much fine money they have collected since the new law came into effect. The state would then deduct that from their local government fund payments.
If a community fails to file reports, the state could with-hold all its government funding.
