City of Kent to install 11 red-light cameras next year

Revenue estimated between $1 million and $2 million per year from six intersections

City of Kent to install 11 red-light cameras next year

Ready, set, mount the red-light cameras.

The city of Kent will add 11 red-light cameras next year at six major intersections in an effort to catch drivers who run the lights and raise revenue to purchase body cameras for police officers.

The City Council’s Operations Committee voted 3-0 on Nov. 20 to approve Kent’s first red-light cameras that could bring in an estimated $1 million to $2 million per year in revenue. The committee also approved a five-year contract with Arizona-based American Traffic Solutions (ATS) Inc., for as much as $651,000 per year for camera installation and maintenance along with the processing and mailing of infractions.

“We’ve had ongoing complaints (about red-light runners), and the collision data is why we are doing this,” Police Chief Rafael Padilla said at the committee meeting. “We did a feasibility study to identify the intersections with the higher rate of collisions.”

Drivers will be fined $124 for running a red light. Padilla estimated the system to be operating in about six to eight months.

Crews will install cameras at the following intersections and approaches, primarily based on where the most collisions have occurred:

• 104th Avenue SE and SE 240th Street: eastbound and westbound

• 104th Avenue SE and SE 256th Street: northbound and eastbound

• 84th Avenue South and S 212th Street: northbound and southbound

• Central Avenue North and East James Street: northbound and eastbound

• Central Avenue North and East Smith Street: northbound and southbound

• Kent Des Moines Road and Pacific Highway South: eastbound

ATS will charge $4,750 per camera per month, with an additional $1,000 per month charge for an extra camera if the intersection is too large for the standard camera, said Sgt. Todd Durham, who is overseeing the project, in an email. Kent plans to use nine standard cameras and two of the extra cameras.

ATS contracts with more than 160 municipalities throughout the U.S., including 18 in Washington for red light, speed and school bus stop arm cameras, according to a company spokesman. It has more than 4,000 cameras across the nation.

City staff costs are expected to be about $171,600 per year. Kent Municipal Court plans to add a judicial specialist at a cost of $103,620 per year for salaries and benefits to help cover the extra staff time for red-light fines. Costs for other court staff is about $28,080. Kent Police will pay officers to review violations at an overtime rate of $70 per hour for the anticipated 570 hours needed at a cost of $39,900 for approximately 1,719 violations per month, according to an ATS free feasibility study for the city.

“You have been upfront with what you are trying to achieve with public safety and with the city budget to fund programs,” Councilman Dennis Higgins said prior to the vote. “I am willing to move this forward.”

ATS is the same company that operates the city’s school zone traffic cameras to catch speeders. The city pays ATS more than $500,000 per year to operate that system. The city collected a record $1.2 million in 2017 from drivers caught speeding by cameras in four school zones, according to City Finance Department documents. Kent has collected $4.2 million in the first four years of the school traffic camera program.

The city will spend nearly $1.8 million of the school traffic camera funds this year to buy 29 new police SUVs ($62,000 each) as part of a new car-per-officer, take-home program the City Council approved in May.

Council President Bill Boyce voted in favor of adding red-light cameras.

“I got three of them in Renton,” he said about the cameras in that city. “It’s a sin, I got caught, I paid it. If you don’t run a light, you won’t get a ticket.”


Talk to us

Please share your story tips by emailing editor@kentreporter.com.

To share your opinion for publication, submit a letter through our website https://www.kentreporter.com/submit-letter/. Include your name, address and daytime phone number. (We’ll only publish your name and hometown.) Please keep letters to 300 words or less.

More in News

t
Kent-based UTOPIA Washington partners with Seattle nonprofit

HealthierHere announces 4 new partnerships to help residents get essential health and social services

t
King County buys building for new Kent animal shelter

Plans to close current site in Kent and move 2 miles north in 2027 at cost of $19.5 million

Courtesy Photo, Kent Cornucopia Days
Street list closure for Kent Cornucopia Days

Downtown streets to close Thursday evening, July 10 through Sunday night, July 13

COURTESY PHOTO, ShoWare Center
The city-owned accesso ShoWare Center in Kent continues to lose money, including about $2.5 million over the last three years.
City of Kent-owned ShoWare Center loses $1 million in 2024

Record-high operating loss since arena opened in 2009; city covers losses from its general fund

Kent Police officers examine a black 2013 Chevrolet Camaro after it crashed July 7 into a day care facility along East Smith Street. COURTESY PHOTO, Puget Sound Fire
Man, 42, could face vehicular assault charge in Kent crash

Federal Way man driving westbound down Smith hill when Chevy Camaro crashed into building

File Photo, Kent Reporter
Kent Police Blotter: June 23 to July 5

Incidents include construction site burglary, cable wire theft, rock thrower

t
City of Kent receives two state grants for park projects

Awards of $939,600 and $500,000 from Washington Wildlife and Recreation Program

t
Two people in car injured in Kent after crash into building

Incident at about 1:38 a.m. Monday, July 7 at day care facility along East Smith Street

t
Kent once again a Sister City with El Grullo, Mexico

Both cities reaffirm their commitment to strengthening partnership at Kent City Hall gathering

(File photo)
Fourth of July weekend weather in King County

Expect mostly sunny and warm weather for the Fourth of July weekend… Continue reading

t
Kent man, 22, charged in May 27 Auburn shooting

Documents allege that the suspect, along with others, ambushed Keivon Bias, 21.

Washington State Patrol Trooper Christopher Gadd’s mother Gillian Gadd, left, comforts his wife Cammryn Gadd during the sentencing hearing at the Snohomish County Courthouse for Raul Benitez Santana on Wednesday, July 2, 2025 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Man sentenced for death of Washington State Patrol trooper

Will serve more than 10 years for vehicular homicide for death of Christopher Gadd, a Kentlake High graduate