The Montgomery County police department has not properly overseen the contractors that handle red-light and speed camera citations, leading to concerns about lost revenue, according to an audit report released Thursday by the county inspector general’s office.
The Office of the Inspector General audited the department’s financial transactions and processes for the first time after the 2020 passage of a county law that expanded its responsibilities, the office said in an email to MoCo360.
According to the report, the audit reviewed red-light and speed camera citations paid from July 2022 to June 2023 and unpaid citations from July 2020 to June 2023.
The audit found the department has not been able to verify the accuracy of the information provided by the contractors about the total amount of revenue collected from citations or whether contractors are invoicing the correct amount of money for their services.
The audit also found that the department does not properly oversee the contractors who ensure that traffic citations are paid, the report stated.
Thursday’s report included a response from Montgomery County Chief Administrative Officer Rich Madaleno.
“While we acknowledge there are opportunities for process improvement, it is important to note that this audit report did not find any waste, fraud or malfeasance,” Madaleno wrote.
Referencing the red-light camera revenue, the report said the department paid around $458,000 for the contractors to operate red-light cameras over a four-month period without “first ensuring that the county had received associated revenue.”
In fiscal year 2023, the department received around $10.6 million in red-light and speed camera citation revenue, according to the report. The county projects it will collect about $16.9 million in revenue in FY2024, which ends June 30. For FY2025, which begins July 1, the county projects it will collect about $14.4 million, the report said.
If the department can’t “confirm the accuracy of revenue received, and, in turn, the accuracy of contractor invoices, it could result in the county losing revenue, overpaying for services, or potential contractor fraud that would go unnoticed,” the report said.
The inspector general’s office recommends the department meet with contractors monthly to reconcile citation revenue received along with associated invoices.
During fiscal year 2023, only one employee in the department’s Management and Budget Division was assigned to this task, so these reconciliations did not occur often enough, the report indicated.
Additionally, the office recommends the department “develop and implement written procedures for the reconciliation of citation revenue.”
In his response to the report, Madaleno wrote that he agrees with the report’s recommendations and said the police department will be implementing a monthly reconciliation process with contractors starting in April. The department also will develop and institute written procedures for the process by December.
The audit also found that the department does not properly oversee the contractors who ensure that traffic citations are paid, the report stated.
From fiscal year 2021 to fiscal year 2023, there were 113,375 unpaid citations, totaling around $5.1 million, according to the report. Looking back, more than 491,000 citations went unpaid, totaling $22.9 million from fiscal years 2002 to 2022, “meaning the county has been consistently missing the opportunity to collect additional revenue,” the report said.
According to the inspector general’s office, contractors must make four attempts to collect citation fines from a driver and it was unclear whether that was happening consistently. In some cases, documents were not properly scanned into the system, notices were returned repeatedly due to incorrect addresses and notices were not sent out at the proper time intervals, according to the report.
As a result, “the county may be missing an opportunity to collect additional revenue,” and people may not be as motivated to follow traffic laws if they believe they can get away with not paying citations, the report said.
This may “minimize the county’s ability to reduce speeding and increase public safety,” according to the audit.
The office recommended the department “implement procedures to provide timely oversight of the contractor’s attempts to collect unpaid citations” to mitigate the issue.
Madaleno said he agreed with the recommendation and that the department is assessing the ability of the current contractor to track the status of unpaid citations. The department also strives to have regular reviews and monitoring of the contractor’s work, he said.
Montgomery County Councilmember Dawn Luedtke (D-Dist. 7), a member of the council’s Public Safety committee, said the review of county departments such as the audit released Thursday is important.
“I’m committed to supporting Montgomery County police [putting] in place the fixes needed so that we are collecting all of these fines — because speed and red-light cameras are important and effective as tools to make our roads safer for everyone if we’re implementing this program correctly,” Luedtke wrote in an email statement.
The police department declined to comment on the report, instead deferring to the office of County Executive Marc Elrich.