Q: How much money has Cobb County Schools taken in, by year, since installing cameras on buses?
—David Stone, Powder Springs
A: The Cobb County School District (CCSD) splits the money collected from stop-arm camera fines with Cobb County and American Traffic Solutions (ATS).
More than $4.8 million has been collected since the first violation was issued on Oct. 29, 2012.
Of that, CCSD and the county have each earned $988,025.78, according to records provided to Q&A on the News by county spokeswoman AikWah Leow in an email.
ATS, an Arizona-based company that installed the cameras and processes the violations, has received nearly $2.9 million.
CCSD and Cobb County each received 12.5 percent of the collections ($178,750.88) the first year, 20 percent the second year ($367,373.81) and 27.5 percent the third year ($313,811.59), with $128,089.50 to be disbursed to each.
“Our main focus is always student safety and our top priorities in transportation are safety, education and community outreach — not revenue,” CCSD said in a statement.
Total collections each year:
• Year 1 — $1,430,974.36
• Year 2 — $1,761,168.31
• Year 3 — $1,216,990.43 (with $465,780 to be disbursed)
• Total — $4,874,913.10
A CCSD spokeswoman told Q&A on the News in an email there has been a reduction in violations from 1,800 a day when the program started to less than 900 a day.
The penalty for a first offense is $300. It increases to $750 for the second and $1,000 for a third within a five-year period.
Andy Johnston with Fast Copy News Service wrote this column. Do you have a question about the news? We’ll try to get the answer. Call 404-222-2002 or email q&a@ajc.com (include name, phone and city).
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