Holly Springs math: Cheaper gas = cheaper traffic tickets

Gas prices have gone down and so has the cost of a speeding ticket in Holly Springs.

The Holly Springs City Council this week repealed a $12 fuel fee added to the price of traffic tickets and fines for ordinance violations.

The charge was imposed last June when gasoline was nearly $3.75 a gallon and was threatening to break the police department’s budget. It came off tickets issued as of Tuesday, Police Chief Ken Ball said Wednesday.

“The only feedback I’ve gotten [to its repeal] has been very positive,” Ball said.

The fuel fee generated an extra $1,200 for the city.

“We didn’t get rich off it,” Ball said. “But it was the right thing to do.”

After the city imposed the fuel fee, Ball was deluged with calls from 179 similarly strapped cities and counties across the country.

“Good Morning America” even wanted him for an interview in New York, which, as a non-flier, he declined.