As speed cameras in three school zones prepare to reactivate for the new school year, city officials concede that they have no way to collect more than half a million dollars in unpaid violations logged since the automated enforcement system went live in April. In a brief email to Kingston Wire, City Hall spokeswoman Summer Smith wrote that officials are still seeking an enforcement mechanism.

“Our team is looking into enforcement options that the [Kingston Common] Council will decide at a later date,” Smith wrote in response to an inquiry about how the violations would be enforced.

Revenue generated by the speed cameras around JFK and George Washington elementary schools and Kingston High School have blown past initial projections of $200,000 for 2026. Since going live on April 20, the system has issued 17,530 tickets, each costing the violator $50 or $75 if not paid within two weeks. Meanwhile the system has collected $327,000 with about $228,900 going into city coffers and the remainder to contractor Jenoptik which installed and operates the system in exchange for a 30 percent cut of the revenue. But that leaves about $549,000 in uncollected fines, not including the $25 late fee for those not paid within two weeks.

The tickets generated by the cameras log the license plates of violators and automatically mail the ticket to the registered owner of the vehicle associated with them. The system will also generate a following up notice informing violators of the $25 late fee. But, for now, that is the end of collection efforts. Unlike traditional speeding tickets issued by a police officer, the automated violations are civil. That means that they do not add points to violator’s driver’s license nor can the state issue a license suspension for nonpayment. The city could theoretically sue the violators in civil court, but putting time and money into chasing thousands of $75 violations is unfeasible.

Parking tickets have the same civil status as the speed camera violations. Under the city’s scofflaw statute, violators who rack up three or more parking tickets may have their vehicles booted by the city’s parking violations bureau and have to pay a $50 fee to have the boot removed. But no such provision was included in the legislation passed by the council to authorize the cameras back in November 2025. That enabling statute, meanwhile, was authorized by the state under a home rule resolution that specified locations of the cameras, speed thresholds, the cost of violations and other elements of the law. Any effort to add an enforcement mechanism would likely require another home rule resolution authorized by the state legislature.

On Wednesday, Common Council Majority Leader Michele Hirsch (D-Ward 9) said she was unaware of the enforcement loophole in the speed camera legislation.

“I think that’s something we should take a look at,” said Hirsch who earlier this month backed a resolution to direct revenue from the cameras to a new traffic safety capital reserve fund. “Because if we can’t collect on those violations, then what’s the point?”