Traffic Camera Money Switch Wrong: JOHNSON

Recent media reports have highlighted the Ottawa Auditor General’s findings that describe the redirection of red-light camera revenue since 2019 to the city’s general revenues and to the Ottawa Police Service.

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This is part of a newsletter by College Councillor Laine Johnson

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I have to say I’m feeling disappointed that we repeated this same decision-making, despite my best efforts, even as recently as four months ago.

I spoke out during the 2025 budget deliberations in December because we voted again to redirect revenue from road safety measures, this time from automated speed enforcement (ASE) revenues, collected now and moving forward.

That’s right. This isn’t just a 2019 decision under the last term of Ottawa City Council: this Council voted to make the same decision in 2024.

In the 2025 Ottawa Police Service budget proposal, we were presented with Category 5: User Fees and Revenues, which clearly states that a portion of ASE revenues collected from 2026-2028 will go towards balancing the police budget.

At that time, it was not properly earmarked for traffic-safety expenses, nor was it expensed from the city’s books over to Ottawa Police Service. It moves through a reserve fund and so doesn’t show up in the budget books. It’s there, but there’s no specific accounting. It’s not recorded against the expenses of the Road Safety Action Plan. It’s not specifically recorded in the OPS expenses against road-safety programs.

According to the auditor general: “[n]ot allocating net new revenues generated from new red light cameras installed after 2020 to the dedicated Road Safety Reserve Fund means that these funds will not be used exclusively for road safety initiatives. This can impact the level of public trust in the program as well as limit road safety outcomes that could be achieved through road safety initiatives funded by red light camera revenues.”

Cut The Red Tape At City Hall: SARAVANAMUTTOO

I said it at the time, and I’ll say it again: the public deserves clearer accounting. The opaqueness (however professionally typical) of a program that is as contentious as red-light and automatic speed enforcement is not appropriate. As we see from public reaction, I was right. It remains a critical role for a city councillor to exercise careful oversight of the city’s finances at budget time and raise any discrepancies that affect residents. It’s not simple work, and it’s not always politically popular or personally easy to speak out. But the budget is a series of choices, and it’s our job to examine those choices through the lens of our residents.

When you move money around and it’s not appropriately accounted for, it looks like a slush fund.

For this reason (among others), I voted against the 2025 police budget and the 2025 city budget.

When we assure the public that money collected from unsafe driver behaviours will go exclusively towards road safety improvements, I think that justification resonates with most people. When we start moving dollars around to balance other budgets, even in small amounts, it undermines the commitment we have made to residents and robs Peter to pay Paul.

City staff has agreed in the wake of the auditor-general’s findings that shifting these funds was not done transparently and they have committed to a public reckoning through the next budget cycle. I hope that’s not too little too late to restore trust. My staff and I spent significant time uncovering at least some of this late last year and raising it to council’s attention, but I wonder what else we haven’t found. This council was voted in to do better in terms of transparency and in rebuilding the relationship with residents. I am disappointed in the damage that has been done and how this opens us to the same criticisms made of the previous term of council.

And I’m disappointed in how this will affect the public’s view of the red light camera and ASE program. Both are effective at making our roads safer – they have been proven to slow down cars and reduce red light running. They’re too important to lose.

This newsletter excerpt is courtesy of the city-wide community group Your Applewood Acres (And Beyond) Neighbours

For You:

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