After months of grumbling from municipalities that use photo radar, the Alberta government this week decided to suspend the implementation of a $15 fee for registry database searches.
Word came from Service Alberta Minister Heather Klimchuk on Thursday afternoon that the fees — which were to be charged each time a municipality performed an electronic motor vehicle registration search in the issuing of provincial traffic tickets — would not start Sept. 1 as planned. St. Albert Mayor Nolan Crouse was ecstatic at the news.
“Perseverance pays off,” Crouse said. “The larger the municipality, the more important this one was, and the photo radar municipalities had the largest stakes — for Edmonton, Calgary, St. Albert, Lethbridge, those large municipalities, it was a lot of money.”
The decision was made by the provincial cabinet based on the feedback that they had heard from municipalities, said Service Alberta spokesperson Sharon Lopatka.
“We've listened to the concerns that have been raised by the AUMA [Alberta Urban Municipalities Association] and the municipalities and suspended the search fee,” she said.
Many municipalities that use photo radar railed against the fees, estimating it could cost them hundreds of thousands of dollars to process speeding tickets. Crouse and 14 other mayors jointly signed a letter to the provincial government calling for action after a July conference in Grande Prairie.
“We were hit very hard because we are the owners of photo radar,” Crouse said, adding that he had also recently penned letters to local MLAs.
Lopatka said that feedback was heard loud and clear, but the demands on the province's infrastructure are still there and still need to be addressed.
“We need to make sure this system is available 24/7 so municipalities can run their traffic enforcement programs,” she said. “To date, we have absorbed those administrative costs associated with providing that information, but we're not going to be able to continue to do that.”
To partially offset the anticipated rise in costs, St. Albert city council passed a bylaw on Aug. 15 that would increase parking fines by $15 each. Parking fines are the only fines that municipalities control; the rest are set by the province. That measure, however, would have only brought in an extra $16,000, while it was estimated the fees would cost the city $490,000 in 2012.
Crouse said that, even though the fees have been delayed, the rise in parking fines may not be undone.
“Whether or not council will be wishing to revisit it, I don't know,” he said.
“I don't know the last time parking fines were raised. If it was 10 years ago — I'm not trying to justify it, I'm just trying to say that, if it was 10 years ago, then $15 might not have been unreasonable anyway,” he added.
Edmonton city council was set to debate a similar parking fine increase this Wednesday.
While the implementation of the fees has been suspended, they are not off the province's agenda entirely. Klimchuk indicated in an e-mail to Crouse Wednesday that the fees could be considered for the 2012-2013 budget process.
“They're going to look at it as part of next year's budget, and they'll involve municipalities in those discussions,” Lopatka said.
If the fees do pop up again, Crouse hopes the province takes preparatory steps.
“I hope they do it parallel to an increase in fines to the speeder. We'd be OK with that. … My impression from everyone I've spoken with, including residents, is if someone is going to do the crime, you should pay for the additional costs associated with administering it,” he said. “I don't think anyone is going to have an issue if the cost is passed on to the perpetrator.”
