auditor general clears up 'confusion' over ottawa red-light camera revenue
new red-light cameras installed after 2020 generated $10.7 million that could have been transferred to the city’s road safety reserve fund, according to a report from nathalie gougeon.
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a file photo of ottawa city hall.
errol mcgihon
/
postmedia
the city’s auditor general tried to clear up some “confusion” after tabling a report that found millions in revenue from red-light cameras that “could have” gone to road safety initiatives, but was instead allocated to general coffers and to the ottawa police service.
new red-light cameras installed after 2020 generated $10.7 million that could have been transferred to the city’s road safety reserve fund, according to a report from auditor general nathalie gougeon.
the audit found $41 million in total revenue was generated by red-light cameras between 2021 and 2024, but that total was “not what we estimated as what should have been allocated to road safety initiatives from this program,” gougeon said at an april 29 audit committee meeting.
“not allocating net new revenues generated from new red light cameras installed after 2020 to the dedicated road safety reserve fund means that these funds may not have been used exclusively for road safety initiatives.”
about 80 per cent of that $41 million was allocated to the city’s general operating budget, while the remaining 20 per cent — about $8.4 million — was transferred to the ottawa police service.
gougeon said the audit actually highlighted “many good practices” with both the red-light camera program and the automatic speed enforcement (photo radar) program.
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“i don’t want to lose sight of that … we tend to look at the main findings of our report, but we are seeing a lot of very good practices,” gougeon said.
“to ensure alignment and for greater transparency moving forward, we’re recommending that staff review the red-light camera revenue allocation and that they bring it back to council for direction and for approval moving forward,” gougeon said.
“what our report is not saying (is) that the city isn’t funding road safety initiatives — it is. it was before these programs and it still continues to do so.”
gougeon said $25 million was allocated to road safety initiatives in the 2019 budget and $27.5 million in the 2020 budget.
gougeon said the auditor general’s office was not making any commentary on “the appropriateness of the allocation to the ottawa police service or the use of those particular funds.
“i think that’s very important what we are stating is we’re asking city of ottawa staff to review and to obtain reporting from ops on the use of those funds and to report that back to committee.”
a day earlier, during the april 28 meeting of the ottawa police services board, coun. steve desroches said the audit “raised the need for greater clarity on the disposition of red-light cameras.”
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desroches introduced a motion asking ottawa police to report annually to the board on funding from red-light cameras and from photo-radar cameras “with a focus on programming, activities, operational resources and enforcement outcomes.”
the ops 2026 draft budget should include “specific line items related to the red-light cameras and/or automated speed enforcement revenue,” and police should “include activities and outcomes related to its role in the road safety program,” the motion said.
“i think the objective is to provide some clarity and expectations on that revenue and how it’s being used by the ops as part of this larger ops strategy,” desroches said. “the feedback of the communities is that these cameras are effective and they are part of our enforcement strategy … i think this just provides some greater clarity and transparency in terms of how that funding is used.”
deputy chief steve bell told the board that ops “can absolutely report on the costs associated with the traffic initiatives that we’re engaged in … we’re regularly reporting on the traffic initiatives within the community now, so we can actually bring that together and look at how we cost out the actual amount of money it costs to spend our time doing those traffic safety initiatives.
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“what i can tell you is we spend far more than the $4 million we get this year through the city on traffic enforcement and road safety and we will continue to do that,” bell said. “but we’re happy to report on the activities and the associated costs.”
the auditor general also found that revenues generated through photo-radar cameras were not being formally reported in the city’s road safety action plan annual report.
the photo-radar program yielded $5 million in net revenues in 2023 and $29 million in 2024.
gougeon recommended that staff “revisit the approach for allocating revenues from the red-light camera program to the road safety reserve fund to ensure alignment with council’s expectations.”
council approved a further annual transfer of $1 million to ottawa police from its automated speed enforcement (photo-radar) program, commencing in 2025.
“this places even greater importance on monitoring and reporting of the use of funds transferred to others,” gougeon stated.
the audit also identified “areas for improvement such as the need for the city to better demonstrate how each program leads to improved road safety in the city,” the auditor general’s office stated tuesday. each of the audit’s four recommendations were accepted.
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