Mayor Mike Johnston plans to increase revenue next year by ticketing bad drivers aggressively, using both human and photo enforcement.
“We will make steps for traffic safety with increased photo enforcement, which is something we hear a lot of … from residents who want more enforcement of speeding,” Johnston said on Monday, announcing his “cut-to-the-bone” 2026 budget. “And that will also be a key part of our focus here on how we're going to keep the city safe as well as a small increase in revenue for the city.”
Next year, revenue from fines and forfeitures is expected to be $47.2 million, a 6.3 percent increase from this year. (Revenue from forfeitures comes from the sale of lost or confiscated items like cars and RVs.)
“Growth is expected from increased traffic enforcement, higher photo radar collections, and increased parking fines due to improved enforcement routing,” the 2026 budget book states.
Johnston says the city is improving its parking and traffic enforcement strategies.
This year, revenue from enforcement is sluggish. It is projected at $44.4 million, a $3.4 million downward revision from the original forecast, according to the budget proposal.
Ticketing revenue lagged in part because fewer agents were available in early 2025, the city said.
Lower than expected parking fines, photo radar collections and traffic court fines from new police traffic enforcement policies also contributed to the city’s decrease in revenue.
Earlier this year, the city installed permanent speed cameras on Federal Boulevard and Alameda Avenue.
Added revenue from traffic and parking enforcement is a small fiscal boost in a budget year where the mayor is trying to close a $200 million gap caused, in part, by a projected drop in sales tax revenue and years of growth in city spending.
The mayor has decided not to attempt to raise taxes or fee levels to support the ailing general fund.
In 2010, Cochrane, the health care research network, analyzed 28 studies that measured the effectiveness of speed cameras for road safety. In all of them, researchers found that use of the technology correlated with reductions in crashes.
