* WARNING: THIS IS AN UNOFFICIAL, INTRODUCTORY COPY OF THE BILL.
THE OFFICIAL COPY CONSIDERED BY THE CITY COUNCIL IS THE FIRST READER COPY.
INTRODUCTORY*
CITY OF BALTIMORE
COUNCIL BILL R
(Resolution)
Introduced by: Councilmember Stokes
A RESOLUTION ENTITLED
A COUNCIL RESOLUTION concerning
title
Speed Camera Revenue For Schools
FOR the purpose of calling on the Mayor to commit to divert all annual revenue above $5 million generated by the City's speed camera program from the general fund into the Public School Construction and Renovation Special Fund.
body
Recitals
Broad consensus exists that the current condition of the City's public schools is deplorable and must be remedied. This will be no easy task; some estimates put the cost for the work necessary to bring our schools up to an acceptable level at $1 billion, or even higher.
Despite this intimidating figure, the school system has put forward an innovative proposal that would allow it to leverage smaller payments over a period of time into a large lump sum that could be used to make meaningful and immediate progress on improving the schools. However, although various funding sources have been discussed, no consensus has developed about how to provide the revenue stream necessary to proceed with this project.
One City revenue stream with a clear link to the schools does exist in the form of millions of dollars in fines from speed cameras set up to protect school zones. Since these cameras are already tasked with keeping children safe on their way to and from school, it would be fitting if the money generated by the cameras also served to keep children safe, and comfortable enough for learning, while they were at school.
The City's 74 fixed and 8 portable speed cameras are projected to generate $11.4 million for the City in Fiscal Year 2013, a decline from the $16.7 million generated in Fiscal Year 2011 that can be attributed to their effectiveness at reducing speeding in the zones where they are deployed. If $5 million is deducted from this figure for the City's other needs, $6.4 million from the school zone cameras could be diverted from the general fund into the Public School Construction and Renovation Special Fund as a down payment towards the school system's plan.
Adopting this approach may not be enough on its own to remedy decades of neglected maintenance at the schools, but it would at least begin the effort to bring school facilities up to an acceptable level. And it would certainly be appropriate to allow the cameras that work to keep our children safe on the way to school, to also work to make the schools they are journeying to safe for our children.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF BALTIMORE, That the Council calls on the Mayor to commit to divert all annual revenue above $5 million generated by the City's speed camera program from the general fund into the Public School Construction and Renovation Special Fund.
AND BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That a copy of this Resolution be sent to the Mayor, the CEO of Baltimore City Public Schools, and the Mayor's Legislative Liaison to the City Council.
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