by LAURA GLESBY
As alders consider whether to legalize red light and speeding cameras in New Haven, Mayor Justin Elicker has proposed adding four new city employees to install and manage 20 such cameras in the next fiscal year.
Sandeep Aysola, the city’s director of Traffic, Transportation, and Parking, presented before the Board of Alders Finance Committee on Thursday evening to advocate for the approval of those four positions, along with three other new positions associated with the department’s existing traffic enforcement duties.
Those new positions are all included in the mayor’s proposed $680 million Fiscal Year 2024 – 25 (FY25) budget which, if approved by the Board of Alders, would take effect July 1.
The state legislature passed a “Vision Zero” law in 2023 to grant municipalities the ability to implement red light and speeding cameras, with sensor-activated cameras installed at specific intersections in order to document violations (and prompt $50-$75 tickets).
The law was hailed by advocates as a critical step to disincentivize reckless driving, reduce car crashes, and prevent avoidable deaths, while critiqued by opponents including the CT NAACP for having the potential to disproportionately target Black and Brown drivers.
Now that the state’s enabling legislation has passed, the mayor’s office is advocating for an ordinance that would permit the city of New Haven to install those cameras.
A separate joint Legislation and Public Safety committee of alders will hold a public hearing on Tuesday night as they weigh whether or not to legalize traffic enforcement cameras on a local level.
In the meantime, the mayor’s budget proposal anticipates that this local legislation will pass.
Aysola’s department has proposed hiring four new employees for the implementation of traffic enforcement cameras across the city, including:
- A Traffic Safety Engineer, who will serve as the camera program’s “project manager.” This entails supervising the day-to-day operations and managing the revenue generated by tickets, which per state law must be used to fund transportation and traffic safety upgrades. (Proposed salary: $83,782)
- A Systems Technician, who will be in charge of “all the technical stuff,” as Aysola put it, including interactions with vendors. (Proposed salary: $80,125)
- An Enforcement Officer, who will review the violations detected by the cameras and decide whether to issue a ticket. (Proposed salary: $64,872)
- A Program Coordinator, who will ensure that the program is in compliance with state law, including the equity requirements. (Proposed salary: $48,495)
The state law specifically requires cities to employ a systems technician and designate an enforcement officer when implementing traffic cameras.
The other two positions, Aysola said, are not explicitly required by the state — but would be necessary, he argued, in order to actually carry out the state’s extensive reporting and community input requirements.
Dixwell Alder Jeanette Morrison asked whether the department expects to be able to fill these positions handily.
Aysola replied that he does. He conceded that some of these jobs require specialized knowledge or skills, but said, “There’s a lot of people looking for jobs, too.”
The city anticipates generating $700,000 in ticket revenue from the cameras if they are approved.
On top of the “Vision Zero” positions, Aysola’s department would add one full-time and one part-time parking enforcement officer, as well as a Manager of Systems and Operations position, under Elicker’s proposed budget.
According to city-authored documents submitted to the Board of Alders, between 2020 and 2022, New Haven saw 717 car crashes involving speeding — 204 of which caused an injury or fatality — and 4,590 car crashes involving a red light violation.
Last year, alders denied the mayor’s request to add an Active Transportation Planner position (in charge of implementing pedestrian, bus, and bicycle-friendly infrastructure) and a parking enforcement officer to the department.