Millions owed in unpaid county speed camera fines
About 18% of speed camera tickets issued last year remain unpaid
WELLINGTON COUNTY – Millions of dollars are still owed in unpaid fines from tickets issued during Wellington County’s automated speed enforcement pilot last year.
The pilot, with cameras installed in seven school zones last year between January and November, came to an abrupt end on Nov. 12 after the Doug Ford government outlawed the cameras. (There were 1,179 speeding tickets issued on the final day.)
Three months later, 45,198 tickets with fines totalling $5.6 million remain unpaid as of Feb. 20, according to the county. Of those, 2,278 are being appealed.
County purchaser and risk analyst Kelly-Ann Wingate said Wellington is collecting its dues when the Ministry of Transportation denies a licence plate renewal, forcing outstanding fines to be paid.
County spending millions on road safety
The unpaid tickets account for about 18 per cent, or nearly one in five, of the total 256,082 tickets issued during the 10-month pilot.
According to the county, $29.55 million in total fines have been issued.
But the county doesn’t get all that cash, and it’s estimated $473,321 in fines will become bad debt, never being paid.
As outstanding tickets are paid, the county is expecting to get a total cut of nearly $10 million in fine revenue over the next couple of years.
That’s after $1 million in fees is paid to the province, Moneris for payment processing, and Global Traffic Group, the Alberta-based company that owns and operates the cameras here.
Fine revenue goes into the county’s road reserve, helping to cover $11.21 million in road safety improvements planned for this year and next.
In 2026, the county is spending $4.88 million on road studies, guard rails, streetlights, pedestrian crossings and intersection improvements.
Just $975,000 of that total will pay for curbs, speed radar signs, bollards and pedestrian crossings near school safety zones. Another $325,000 this year is going to similar spending around the county’s community safety zones (often overlapping with school safety zones).
In 2027, $6.33 million is budgeted for road improvements, including a $4-million roundabout to replace a Mapleton intersection at Wellington roads 7 and 12.
Of the total proposed spending next year, $500,000 would go to road safety improvements around school and community safety zones.
Spending for 2027 improvements wouldn’t be approved by council until next year.
Province provides signs, funding for projects
After speed cameras were made illegal last year, the province provided speed limit signs with flashing lights for school zones, and announced a $210-million fund to pay for traffic-calming infrastructure.
From the fund, $42 million is being divvied up among municipalities with speed cameras. The county’s cut is $210,000, but the money has yet to be received.
Another $168 million is available to municipalities through application-based funding, but the county hasn’t yet applied.
Cameras still collecting data
In November, county council voted to keep cameras in place to collect vehicle speed and traffic volume data.
The county is spending $34,650 for nine months of data.
“We’re not taking pictures of people’s cars, but it’s counting the number of cars, and it’s counting speeds,” county roads manager Joe de Koning previously told the Advertiser.
