If the Baltimore County Council authorizes the installation of speed cameras in school zones today, officials said they will review several options before awarding a contract for the equipment.
Initially, the county had expected to add a lease for about a dozen cameras onto an existing contract with the Texas company that supplied the red light cameras. But that contract specifies the purchase of equipment.
"We prefer to lease the speed cameras and will not be using the existing contract," said Don Mohler, county spokesman. "If the council authorizes the cameras, we will review the options and come back with recommendations on how to proceed."
Putting the contract out to bid would delay the installation by as much as a month. The council would make the legislation effective Oct. 1. The county might be able to "piggyback" onto a state contract or another jurisdiction's purchase, if the criteria met county parameters, Mohler said. The contract would come back to the council for approval.
Council members, who have heard from dozens of residents on both sides of the issue, will decide at the session today. Opponents said the cameras are a money grab that smacks of government intrusion. Many parents have said the equipment will protect their children.
Police Chief Jim Johnson has provided statistics to show that the technology works and decreases speed-related accidents.
"This is just common police sense," Johnson said. "Montgomery County saw a 70 percent reduction in speeding in the first six months of the cameras."
The cameras, which would operate from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. on weekdays, would cover about a half-mile radius around schools that have generated the most complaints about speeding. Initially, about a dozen cameras would be installed and signs would be posted alerting drivers to the equipment's presence.
Motorists driving 12 miles above the posted speed limit would be fined $40. About 15 cameras will be leased initially, at a monthly cost of $6,411 each. Budget officials estimate that each camera would generate about $138,000 in revenue annually.
