A Butler County judge has ordered the village of New Miami to refund $3 million in fines to over 45,000 motorists ticketed for speeding by traffic light cameras, ruled unconstitutional in 2014.
As the local ABC affiliate reports, a judge says the placement of stationary traffic cameras wasn't fair to drivers and now a local community has to pay back $3 million in fines.
It’s a controversial battle over unmanned cameras.
The cameras were ruled unconstitutional in 2014 by Butler County Common Pleas Judge Michael J. Sage, who approved class action status.
Controversy still surrounds the use.
The village of New Miami has to pay back drivers for fines collected for nearly two years while the cameras were in place.
In a ruling handed down on Wednesday, Judge Michael Oester said the money paid to the village gave it an unfair advantage at the expense of speeders.
So now the village has to return the money paid by drivers involved in a class action lawsuit.
That's a total of about $3 million.
Nearly 45,000 people were cited in 15 months.
As TheAntiMedia's Josie Wales notes, of the $3 million collected in fines, 60% of the revenue went to the village while 40% went to the traffic light company running the program. The village’s attorney plans to take the case to the Supreme Court, claiming the village should not be responsible for funds it did not receive, seemingly ignoring the fact that it was responsible for implementing the unconstitutional program and collecting the fines in the first place.