Miami-Dade County, like so many others in the State of Florida, is looking to up it’s revenue.
As far as housing goes, code enforcement is hot on the trail of home-owners who have done work without permits … or are neglecting to keep up their exterior curb-appeal. And from the looks of things, the municipalities are continuing to bring in additional revenue from those citations.
Additional revenue for Miami-Dade was expected to come from an innovative red-light camera idea … 63 of them installed at various intersections to cite red-light-runners. Problem is that the courts are tossing out cases left and right. Revenue that was hoped to reach $8 million in 2011 will more likely amount to only 1/4 of that… based on the fact that roughly $1 million has come in thus far.
There are certainly questions as to whether the investment itself (and the continued cost for operating the cameras) is worthwhile. I can’t answer that. But I can say that the location for those cameras was obviously chosen based on the number of red lights run … and based on the number of accidents and fatalities reported at those intersections… And I would hope that saving lives will be heavily weighed when debating whether those cameras are cost effective or not.
