As Cleveland leaders flirt with bringing back traffic cameras, suburbs around them are cashing in — even under laws meant to strip the profit out of automated ticketing.
A handful of Cuyahoga County suburbs — Linndale, Newburgh Heights, Parma, Parma Heights, East Cleveland, Walton Hills and Gates Mill — collected anywhere from $800,000 to $4.3 million in a single year from their cameras. And because some put traffic cameras in school zones, municipalities can pocket the money and not lose state tax dollars.
Under state law, for every dollar $1 earned from camera fines, the state docks $1 from Local Government Fund payments. The only exception: school-zone cameras, which are shielded from that penalty.
Cleveland used to have traffic cameras. The city started using them in 2005 and stopped in 2014 when residents voted 3-to-1 to ban them, unless a police officer is present to stop the driver and hand out the ticket.
But if voters could be convinced to repeal that ban, members of Cleveland City Council said they’ll consider bringing back traffic cameras back to combat reckless driving. Mayor Justin Bibb’s “Vision Zero” plan also calls for using traffic cameras in school zones and on roads with the highest number of fatal and serious injury crashes.
State data shows that Cleveland received just under $31 million in 2024 from the state’s Local Government Fund, so it may be difficult to generate enough revenue with traffic cameras to justify the penalties.
Local Government Fund payments can vary month-to-month, but in some cases small municipalities can make more from traffic cameras than they receive from the state.
Some cities are placing cameras only in school zones and collecting revenue without running into this issue. Others place these cameras outside of school zones and collect enough money in fines to justify the penalty.
HOW MUCH DOES EACH CITY COLLECT?
Parma’s traffic camera program currently only operates in school zones — and still generates seven figures. The Flamingo city has cameras near Normandy High School on Pleasant Valley Road, Thoreau Park Elementary on West 54th and Holy Family on York Road, just to name a few.
Parmacollected $1.54 million in fines from six cameras from July 2024 through June 2025, according to records filed with the state tax department. County records say Parma was due $2.38 million from the Local Government Fund in 2024.
Parma Heights has traffic cameras in school zones, like on Huffman Road near Greenbriar Middle School and on Independence Boulevard near Valley Forge High School. Overall, Parma Heights collected $841,000 in fines in one year’s time from five cameras.
Those school-zone cameras mean no penalties. Parma Heights was due $1.43 million from the state in 2024.
East Cleveland has traffic cameras at 12 locations in and outside of school zones. The city collected $2.9 million in school zones and about $5,000 from cameras outside of school zones, according to records filed with the state. The suburb was due $2 million from the state in 2024.
Gates Mills collected $632,000 from a set of cameras on the Mayfield Road hill, not a school zone. It 2024, the municipality was only due $54,000 from the state.
Walton Hills has cameras at the intersection of Alexander and Noddington, and near Alexander and Independence. The village reported $826,000 in revenue from fines, none of which came from school zones. But the community was only due $1,700 in 2024.
Linndale’s traffic camera on Memphis Road near Bellaire Road — who’s infamy may be why you clicked on this story — earned $2.25 million in one year’s time, according to state records. There’s no school zone. But Linndale was only due $2,300 from the Local Government Fund.
Newburgh Heights has a pair of traffic cameras looking westbound and eastbound on Harvard Road, one at 42nd Street and one at 52nd Street. The city reported collecting $4.3 million from June through July. It’s also not in a school zone. The village was dur $58,000 in 2024, which it lost.
Whether Cleveland could make traffic cameras pay off — or simply breakeven — is the question now facing City Hall. Or maybe an even bigger question is whether voters would ever change their minds and let the cameras come back.
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