Issue

North Carolina—Fines and Forfeitures Clause—interlocal agreement—"clear proceeds"—fines from red light camera enforcement program

Summary

A local act implementing a city's red light camera enforcement program and authorizing an interlocal agreement–which laid out a cost-sharing framework for funding the program–between the city and its county's school board did not violate the Fines and Forfeitures Clause of the North Carolina Constitution (Art. IX, section 7), where the board received all of the fines collected under the program and then reimbursed the city for two main expenses: the fee for the private company hired to install the cameras, maintain them, and process captured violations; and the salary of an officer hired to review the recorded evidence and approve citations. Through this framework, the city recouped only the "reasonable costs of collection," and therefore the board retained the "clear proceeds" of collected red light penalties as that term is defined under the Fines and Forfeitures Clause.

Summary from the North Carolina Reports digest (official subject index). Read the opinion →