By Ed Kelly
The good news is that Suffolk County is going to be returning money paid by individuals who got socked with excessive illegal fines under the now-abandoned red light camera program.
After a judge ruled that the county had improperly tacked on additional fees to the standard fines for those violating the red light law, the county owned up and settled by agreeing to remit $60 million to those who overpaid.
We are concerned, however, that the county has decided to bond this settlement, thereby incurring a huge amount of interest on the payment. This type of bonding has been commonplace over the years, where unexpected settlements would strain the county budget, but that was well before the county became the beneficiary of $700 million in federal grants during the Covid pandemic.
The county is flush with more money in reserves than at any point in memory. It is why some, including this columnist, advised against the county raising the sales tax to pay for sewer and cesspool improvements. We were all for those improvements, but believed the money could’ve been tapped from these reserves.
The county raised the sales tax, while claiming that the reserves would remain available to help pay off settlements such as the red light camera debacle. Well, here we are and we have a higher sales tax while still borrowing money to pay off the settlement.
We respectfully submit that the county reconsider its decision to bond the settlement.
This settlement is a one-shot expenditure. It’s better to use the reserves on a one-shot than on recurring expenditures that require that funding every year thereafter.
Ed Kelly is a board member of the Center for Cost Effective Government.