Speed-camera contractor paid per citation
Source: By Tom LoBianco, Washington Times, March 31, 2008
ANNAPOLIS -- A state lawmaker says Montgomery County is "exploiting a loophole" in state law designed to keep speed-camera operators from profiting off the number of speeding tickets issued.
.......... The county reached an agreement in 2006 with Dallas-based Affiliated Computer Services Inc. (ACS) on a camera system that deploys six vans with speed cameras and 13 stationary speed cameras, as of December. County officials plan to expand to 30 fixed speed cameras by the end of the year.
According to Transportation Article 21-809(j) of the Maryland Code, "If a contractor operates a speed monitoring system on behalf of Montgomery County, the contractor's fee may not be contingent on the number of citations issued or paid."
........ But according to the minutes of a Jan. 29, 2007, meeting of the Rockville City Council, during which legislators approved a "rider bid" to install cameras in the city as part of the ACS contract with the county, ACS gets paid "$16.25 per paid citation for each fixed site and $16.25 per paid citation or $2,999.00 per month per deployed mobile unit whichever is greater."