http://www.edmontonjournal.com/opinion/Editorial+Step+away+from+radar+revenue/4559702/story.html?cid=megadrop_story

Step away from radar revenue
  
Edmonton Journal April 5, 2011
 
Do you harbour a dark suspicion that possibly, just possibly, revenue is the primary reason photo radar is popular with police departments and governments? If you do, your cynical smile should be a little broader this week following news that the Alberta government is horning in on the action.

As of last Friday, the province has begun charging municipalities $15 a pop to search its license-plate database for the owners of vehicles involved in traffic violations such as those caught by photo radar, redlight cameras and parking officers. The province estimates this will yield about $12 million, or a bit more than 10 per cent of the annual haul from radar and red-light cameras, which was $109 million last year across Alberta.

Edmonton officials, however, think the loss will be $10 million just for Edmonton -and that would be almost 40 per cent of the city's 2010 receipts. In that year, photo radar in manned vehicles raked into city coffers $15.8 million, while intersection safety cameras brought in $10.1 million.

Now, in fairness, at a time of controversial budget deficits you can imagine finance officials over at the province struggling to justify a free registration service to an outside entity that is making money off it. One can't help but picture a hungry grizzly trying to resist taking its share of spawning salmon swimming by under its nose.

And the province might argue that if municipalities are really more concerned about improving road safety than about revenue, they could simply buy more photo radar equipment and catch a larger percentage of drivers breaking traffic law. After all, if the chances of being caught speeding grew significantly, fewer people might be inclined to risk it.

But considering the number of revenue sources the province denies municipalities -such as the income tax -and the way the province squeezes the property tax with its education levy, the province ought to have left photo radar alone.

Of course, if the money came back as part of a provincial contribution to our proposed downtown arena, all might be forgiven.

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