County wants more of traffic fine money

TICKETS

This is no different, except instead of the camera writing the ticket, the deputy is writing the ticket, but the money will track the same.”

Garry Seyb, Lee County Supervisor

LEE COUNTY – Supervisors on Monday almost passed a new law that will allow more of the funds from a traffic citation to be kept in the county.
An ordinance that will change moving violations from state violations to county violations could become part of the Lee County Code next Monday.
Supervisor Garry Seyb asked the board to waive the third reading of the ordinance, but Lee County Board Chairwoman Denise Fraise said she’d like to take another look at the ordinance that governs how the funds are used by the county before approving the change.
When the county had Automatic Traffic Enforcement Cameras installed on Highway 218 at the end on 2023, supervisors didn’t want the revenue to become part of the general fund, so they allocated the funding to a separate account in the general fund.
The fund, called ATEC, captured all the funds from the speed cameras and then the ordinance that was put in place governed how the funds would be spent.
Then, in 2024, the state legislature passed a law governing speed traffic cameras and because Lee County didn’t officially begin using the cameras until the start of 2024 they weren’t grandfathered in, and their application for the cameras was denied.
When the law changed May 17, the county then had to create a second ATEC account because funds that came in after the law changed had to be allocated according to state law and not per the county ordinance.
So now the county has two funds and Seyb wants to have any additional funds that come to the county from the citations applied to the ATEC fund.
The new ordinance would change the citations to county citations and then the funds would be placed into the ATEC funds to be used the same way that the camera funds were to be used.
“It would be subject to the same disbursement of funds. Rather than it going directly back into the sheriff's budget or directly back into the sausage-making, if you will – the general fund  - it would go into the general fund under the ATEC 1 account which is basically discretionary to the board. Number two, at the end of April 1st, 15% would go to Secondary Roads, and 15% back to the Sheriff's Department to be able to utilize depending on how much is in that fund.
“We don’t want to get it mixed in with the sausage.”
Then 25% of the funds in the ATEC accounts each fourth quarter will be deposited into separate interest-bearing accounts to be utilized as a County Reserve Emergency Fund. Any disbursements from that account would require four of five supervisors to vote in favor, or a supermajority.
The remaining 75% in each of the ATEC accounts can be spent with a simple majority vote of the Board. Any funds remaining in the ATEC accounts following the fourth quarter will be deposited into the corresponding reserve funds. However, any interest earned and remaining in both ATEC accounts at the end of the fourth quarter will be deposited in the county reserve fund.
The ATEC 1 fund balance currently has $292,177 and the CREF 1 account has $636,515. CREF 2 fund has $230,309. That No. 2 fund can only be used by the sheriff’s department according to the new state law.
Fraise asked why the citation money shouldn’t just go back into the sheriff’s budget to ease property taxes.
Supervisor Ginger Knisely said those funds aren’t taxpayer funds and, in a perfect world, there is no speeding and that money doesn’t exist. Seyb said it was the original intent of the ordinance to keep those extra funds out of the general fund because of that uncertainty.
Seyb said this also allows the county to generate a reserve fund that supervisors can use in case of unforeseen circumstances or for possible grant-matching money that wouldn’t have to come from fund carryovers.
He said the process was run through the state auditor's office to make sure the county was on the right path.
“This is no different, except instead of the camera writing the ticket, the deputy is writing the ticket, but the money will track the same,” he said.
“So what it does is create a legitimate no-joke county reserve fund because we don’t have one.”
Fraise said the county has never had a reserve fund before so why do they need one now.
“Why wouldn’t we want one?” Seyb asked.
“Let’s say there’s $50,000 there. That’s helping the taxpayers if we put that back in the general fund, right,” Fraise said. “I know it’s not a huge amount and probably woudn’t effect the levy that much, but…”
Seyb countered with situations like the call he got from County Engineer Ben Hull last year that a bridge over the Skunk River was collapsing. Or the hospital in Keokuk closing.
“This gives us the ability to respond to things. And I go back to it’s non-taxpayer dollars. We don’t know how much money will or won’t be in there, but its money that taxpayers aren’t being taxed for,” Seyb said.
He asked that all the supervisors get another look at the ordinance before the third and final reading next Monday.