Motivation

To anyone driving near a school in New Orleans, if you recently received a ticket for speeding in a school zone, you might be able to get your money back.That’s because some say the city is violating a newly signed state law by even turning on the speed cameras.School-zone speed cameras are on across the city.Just last month, City Hall sent out numerous press releases announcing the activation of additional cameras.But some have concerns, accusing the city of completely disregarding a state law by even turning them on.”Are they breaking this law?” asked WDSU’s Travers Mackel. “I think a judge would be hard-press to find that they’re not,” said Megan Kiefer, a New Orleans-based attorney.”Look, y’all got a lot of attorneys in New Orleans, and they tune in, and it seems to me this would be ripe for a lawsuit,” said state Sen. Stewart Cathey, a Republican from Monroe.”I would say he’s probably correct. Based on the law, he’s correct,” said Adam Stumpf, a driver who lives in New Orleans.The law being referenced is Act No. 103, signed by Gov. Jeff Landry in June, and it’s clear.In layman’s terms, it says City Hall has to have a signed cooperative endeavor agreement in place with Orleans Parish schools before the cameras go on.Right now, there is no agreement.City Hall is putting all the money collected into escrow until a deal is brokered.So, we tracked down the state senator who wrote the bill, Cathey.”Just to make it clear, there has to be an agreement between both of them before these cameras can operate,” said Cathey. “So that’s my next question, the city of New Orleans is putting the money is escrow and turning them on. Are there legal questions there, in your opinion, to put the money in escrow while they try and bang out a deal here?” asked Mackel.”My response to that is it’s black and white, in law, that you shall not operate speed enforcement devices in school zones without a cooperative endeavor agreement signed between the local municipality and the school board,” said Cathey.Again, the city doesn’t have any agreement in place.Kiefer has handled cases dealing with local government and how they follow state laws.”Yeah, I don’t think you need to be a lawyer to decide this issue,” said Kiefer.She questions what City Hall is doing and if it’s even legal.”Maybe the idea is, we want to get this straight, we want to get this right … we’ll get the details later, but let’s get the money first, but at the end of the day, if you’re the government, whether you’re going to tax people, fine people, penalize people, put people in jail, you have to have a law that allows you to do it before you do it,” said Kiefer.”I will say this: there are 64 other parishes, 63 other parishes in the state. Orleans is the only one that has trouble with this,” said Cathey.This is why some drivers in New Orleans are taking action. Stumpf and his wife both got caught going over the speed limit in Lakeview.”Both of us were the unfortunate recipients of school-zone speeding tickets,” said Stumpf.But Stumpf, also a lawyer, noticed something odd.”I don’t remember the lights flashing saying it’s a school zone,” said Stumpf.Under the law, all lights must be flashing, and the signage must be correctly marked with school-zone enforcement times before the cameras can be activated.That wasn’t the case when Stumpf got his ticket in August, so he fought it and won.And that’s not all.”I was successful, not only for myself but a number of friends got tickets around the same time. They reached out for some help, and I was successful in getting theirs dismissed as well,” said Stumpf.WDSU Investigates requested the number of tickets tossed out or dismissed in recent months by the city.A spokesperson tells us 33 people have been refunded, and over 2,000 school speed zone tickets are currently being contested.Again, to activate any school-zone camera, the city needs:*Proper signage*Lights flashing*An agreement in place with the school system on how to split the revenueSignage and lighting issues are being addressed, but no agreement is in place with OPSB.”Does it surprise you it’s taking this long to get done? I mean, kind of,” said Cathey.City Hall isn’t saying much on this topic, refusing to make anyone available to answer questions on if it is violating the law.The mayor, CAO and city attorney are all mum, despite WDSU Investigates sending almost a dozen emails requesting comment.A City Hall spokesperson did issue a statement that reads in part, “As per advice from the law department, all revenue generated from school zone enforcement cameras is being held in escrow until cooperative endeavor agreements (CEA’s) are finalized with each school.””Is it unfortunate New Orleans is the outlier here?” asked Mackel. “Yeah, but it seems to be par for the course with city government there,” said Cathey.”Have you all gotten any money from the city when it comes to school-zone speed cameras?” Asked Mackel. “We have not. We are still negotiating with the city on the CEA that’s in the legislation to determine how the money will be split between the schools and the city,” said OPSB President Katie Baudouin.She says the holdup shines a light on political infighting.City Hall, the Cantrell administration and school administrators cannot decide how to properly split up the revenue generated, which is typically well into the millions each year. “Is this a case where they could put their money where their mouth is?” asked Mackel. “Absolutely, they can put their money where their mouth is by getting this deal signed, having it be a fair split. I think people can disagree on what that a fair split is, but we know what’s fair and what isn’t fair,” said Baudouin.And the split is where the hold up is, according to multiple sources.Those sources told WDSU Investigates that the city wants to keep 80-90% of the revenue generated, and give 10-20% to OPSB.”Should they even be on right now and the money is escrow if there is no CEA in place?” asked Mackel. “I can’t speak to that because I’m not a lawyer. I don’t know where that’s legal or proper or not,” said Baudouin.If the city is in violation of state law, as Cathey and some lawyers believe, that means that all drivers who received a school-zone speed camera ticket since the cameras went on in August may be entitled to a refund.You can contest a ticket by going to the city’s website and scheduling a hearing date.