While several North Carolina cities use cameras to monitor intersections for red-light runners, Charlotte is taking the concept a step further and using cameras to catch speeders. The test program, which will run through June 30, 2006, was approved by the General Assembly last year.
Since late June, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department has been operating three marked camera-equipped vans along 14 streets in Charlotte. Each van is capable of snapping a picture every half-second. The CMPD plans to operate the vans 16 hours a day, seven days a week.
Potentially camera-monitored corridors are marked with special signs noting that the speed limit is photo-enforced. In addition, a portable sign will be displayed 1,000 feet before a camera van.
“The cameras will run in areas where we have the most crashes,” Capt. Dave Haggist of the CMPD’s traffic division said to The Charlotte Observer. “The whole idea is to let people know where those corridors are, so they will slow down.”
Haggist refused to say how much over the posted speed limit the cameras might be set for, although he did say it would vary, based upon conditions. In February 2003, a one-hour survey along each of the 14 roads showed that 36 percent of drivers were speeding at a high enough rate to get citations.
Like red-light cameras, being caught by a speed camera is punishable by a $50 civil penalty. The citation will be mailed to whomever the car is registered and include color photos of the car, where the laser speed camera was pointed, and a close-up of the license plate. The fines can be appealed and are not reported to the Division of Motor Vehicles or insurance companies.
The police department is working with a private company, Peek Traffic, to implement the program. Peek provides the equipment and receives $39 for each of the first 4,380 citations issued per month and $30 for each additional citation. The cameras are set by police officers. Peek officials and officers will review photos before citations notices are mailed out.
The CMPD had hoped to have the camera vans in service earlier, but delays in finalizing the contract with Peek and the need to train officers on the cameras pushed the start date back.
Too much tax-exempt property?
Like many localities, Winston-Salem and Forsyth County are struggling to balance their budgets. Revenue growth from traditional sources has been slow in recent years, while the demand for services continues to grow. Complicating matters for Forsyth and Winston-Salem is the large percentage of property in their jurisdictions that are tax-exempt.
North Carolina law provides for an exemption from local property taxes for a wide-range of nonprofit organizations, including charitable hospitals. Forsyth County has $3.5 billion worth of tax-exempt property, including $1.9 billion in Winston-Salem alone. Tax-exempt properties make up 13 percent of Winston-Salem’s potential property tax base.
Of special concern are tax-exempt medical institutions. Nearly one third, or $1.1 billion, of the tax-exempt properties in Forsyth County qualify as “charitable hospitals.” Forsyth has more tax-exempt hospital property than any other urban county in North Carolina.
“I don’t think there’s anyone at City Hall who questions the fundamental appropriateness of tax exemptions of charitable hospitals,” Winston-Salem City Manager Bill Stuart said to the Winston-Salem Journal. “We are thrilled with the economic provisions of these major medical institutions for their capacity to bring jobs, income to the community.”
Stuart said, however, that providing basic services, such as police and fire protection, to these institutions carries a cost. “We can’t tax them, but there are legitimate user fees,” he said. The city has increased certain user fees in recent years.
What does annoy Stuart are multiple- doctor practices that are tax-exempt only because they are owned by tax-exempt entities. “That doesn’t seem fair,” he said.
At least one legislator agrees.
“Obviously, something needs to be done, because it wasn’t the intention of those who set up the tax rolls that all of these entities would suddenly be tax-free,” Sen. Ham Horton, R-Forsyth, said to the newspaper.
Durham ponders merit pay
Durham City Council members are interested in implementing a merit-based pay system but they aren’t sure whether they can make the long-term commitment needed for such a system work, the Durham Herald-Sun reported. The interest in merit pay is part of a larger attempt to fix problems in city employee compensation.
In recent years, Durham gave across-the-board pay raises when it had the funds available. Many employees are now underpaid compared to private industry. There’s also often too little of a difference in pay between veteran employees and new hires.
To address these issues, the city has decided to give raises July 1 to employees who are underpaid and give onetime 2 percent bonuses to employees who make more than the going market rate.
As a second step, the city is considering implementing a pay-for-performance compensation scheme. Under the proposal developed by a Minneapolis-based consulting firm, employees would get raises of between 0 and 6 percent a year based upon how well they did their jobs. The plan would cost an additional $2.6 million in fiscal 2005-06.
Some city leaders question whether Durham can make the long-term commitment to make a merit pay system work.
“That’s the situation that local government gets put in,” Durham Mayor Bill Bell said. “Typically, councils don’t know whether they have money to do that piece until the end of the year… that’s where the breakdown occurs.”
Lowrey is an associate editor at Carolina Journal