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View Full Version : Judge orders Ohio village to pay back $3 million to lead-footed drivers



airbud7
02-13-2017, 11:55 PM
What yall think bout them speed cameras giving tickets?


Speed cameras became a cash cow for the small village of New Miami, Ohio.

The town, with a population of about 2,200, collected over $3 million in revenue from heavy-footed motorists after it installed stand-alone speed cameras along one of its major throughways, US 127. The speed cameras in New Miami, which is less than one square mile, automatically fined motorists $95 if they drove faster than 50 miles per hour.

It proved to be a lucrative venture for the village just 35 miles north of Cincinnati. Flush with cash, it raised its annual budget from roughly $1.5 million to $2.5 million in 2013.

But now, the Village of New Miami must pay back every cent of the $3 million it collected from the speed cameras, which were ruled “unconstitutional” in 2014 when drivers filed a class-action lawsuit against the village.

An Ohio judge ruled in favor of drivers, who claimed they were unfairly ticketed.

“Any collection or retention of the monies collected under the ordinance was wrongful,” Butler County Ohio Judge Michael Oster wrote in his decision last week.

The village reportedly cited almost 45,000 people and collected $1.8 million during the 15 months the cameras were tracking drivers. The village paid another $1.2 million to Optotraffic, the company that ran the speed camera program...

Laws by state...>http://www.ghsa.org/state-laws/issues/Speed-and-Red-Light-Cameras

BarryBobPosthole
02-14-2017, 05:02 AM
Ohio has villages?

What qualifies as a village vs a town?

BKB

DeputyDog
02-14-2017, 07:20 AM
Fido might have to answer that one. I know they have them but not sure what the qualifiers are. My guess is it's based on population.


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Thumper
02-14-2017, 07:57 AM
Yep, when I first started hunting with my buddy in Ohio, he always called the small towns in the area, villages or townships. (he lived in a village)

Wiki:

In Ohio, a village is an incorporated municipality with fewer than 5,000 inhabitants, excluding residents of educational or correctional facilities. The minimum population for incorporation as a village is 1,600 inhabitants, but this was not always the case, resulting in many very small villages. If an existing village's population surpasses 5,000 at a federal census, or if a village comes to have more than five thousand resident registered voters, it is automatically designated as a city. Cities or villages may be within township areas; however, if a city or village becomes coterminous with a township, the township ceases to exist as a separate government.

BTW, yes ... I had to Google "coterminous". ;)

Chicken Dinner
02-14-2017, 10:04 AM
They're pretty standard in these parts. Since I got the Waze app, they don't bother me much one way or another.


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Big Muddy
02-14-2017, 10:14 AM
Prolly where the phrases, "It Takes A Village to Raise a Child" and the "Village Idiot" came from. ;)