Kissimmee invests $2 million of red light camera revenue into roads

KISSIMMEE, Fla. (FOX 35 ORLANDO) - The City of Kissimmee has put $2 million of red light camera ticket revenue into a road repair program over the last four years, according to city leaders. The investment has allowed the city to complete a 10-year road maintenance plan in just six years.

“By using the funds that we get from the red light camera revenue, it allows us to accelerate that plan, so we’re able to do those roads that would have otherwise taken us a 10 year period in almost half the time,” said Mike Steigerwald, Kissimmee City Manager.

The City Commission decided to use 100 percent of the revenue from the program for roads and maintenance of the program back in 2013, when it agreed to launch the red light camera network.

“We wanted to show, hey we’re doing this for the right reasons, we’re doing this to improve safety and what better way to show that we mean what we say than to take the revenues that we make off this and put it back into the transportation network,” said Steigerwald.

The city says upwards of $600,000 per year is dedicated to resurfacing old roads, pothole repairs, new striping and crosswalks.

“You always hear the rhetoric, ‘oh I get ticketed, they’re trying to meet their quota, they’re padding their pocketbook,’ but we’re really trying to show that we’re putting our money where our mouth is,” said Steigerwald.

Kissimmee drivers we spoke to say that, if the program is going to be around, at least it will improve roads.

“They need to invest the money and make the roads more safe,” said Carmen Vargas.

“I do think it’s good, there’s a lot of things that they can use it on but I do think that road maintenance needs to be done,” said Amanda Baldwin.

“It’s very important that the roads and everything is taken care of in the city, that’s for sure, when it comes to transportation and traffic moving smoothly,” said Erica Reid.

“For those who end up having to get ticketed, at least they know that the money goes back into the very roads that they drive on every day,” said Steigerwald.

The city is already working on the next long-term road repair plan, much earlier than expected. Steigerwald says the cameras are deterring the running of red lights, in addition to generating a ton of revenue. At this time, there are no plans to add cameras or remove cameras.