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By Miya Jones
Drivers in both Suffolk and Nassau counties might all soon have the chance to be compensated for excessive fees charged through controversial red light camera programs.
A state appeals court on Wednesday ruled that drivers in Suffolk County who have paid extra administrative fees for red light camera tickets will be entitled to restitution under a class action suit.
The same appeals court has also ruled that additional “driver responsibility” and “public safety” fees tacked onto a driver’s initial red light violation in Nassau County were illegal.
The county had been heaping on another $100 in fees atop the $50 base ticket price for violations — a practice the county stopped after the Nov. 27 appeals court ruling.
Motorists ticketed in Nassau are still pursuing class action authorization.
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In the meantime, Democrats in the Nassau County Legislature have proposed a Fair Fees Accountability Act that would allow eligible drivers to receive “reimbursements for the excessive fees they were forced to pay.”
“These fees ballooned from $15 in 2011 to $100 in 2017,” Nassau County Legislator Seth Koslow (D), who sponsored the Fair Fees Accountability Act said during a press conference this week. “That’s $150 for something that was supposed to be capped at $50.
“This was not about traffic safety; this was highway robbery.”
According to a press release, the Fair Fees Accountability Act proposal would create a dedicated fund. Nassau County drivers who qualify will be reimbursed through this fund, which will be overseen by an independent oversight committee.
“Today, we gather to correct an over decade-long injustice inflicted on Nassau County’s hardworking families—an injustice the courts have unanimously ruled was illegal,” said DeRiggi-Whitton, the Legislature’s Democratic minority leader. “While the courts have done their part, it’s now our duty as legislators to ensure that the County takes immediate steps to repeal these fees and refund the money unlawfully taken from our residents.”
In a news report published Dec. 11, Legislature Howard Kopel (R), the Legislature’s presiding officer, told WSHU he won’t allow the refund bill to be voted on, citing the budgetary strain that reimbursement of past fees would create, reads the news report.
A spokesman for Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman’s office, Chris Boyle, had this to say:
“It is incredibly dishonest that Democratic minority leader Delia Derriggi-Whitton, who led the fight to increase red light camera fees, now wants to punish the taxpayers for her mistakes.”
On the Suffolk side of the Island, the court stated because the “class consists of a large number of identifiable individuals,” who are seeking “relatively small sums of damages” a class action suit course was justified.
Suffolk had been charging a $30 administrative fee, but stopped the practice last year. According to Suffolk’s 2023 annual red-light camera report, the county collected more than $90.5 million in administrative fees between 2013 and 2023.
The Red Light Safety Program was first implemented in 2010. The program officially ended in Suffolk on Dec. 1.
As of now, the program will continue in Nassau County.
