On May 13, the City of Arlington notified Arizona-based American Traffic Solutions (ATS), the company that manages the City's red light camera program, that it was exercising its 90-day contract termination clause.

Click here to view the letter.

According to the Arlington Police Department, no violations after May 9 will be processed. The review of final violations issued through May 9 will be processed and mailed by May 19. Violations may be appealed up to 30 days after issuance. All current outstanding violations, however, remain unaffected and are due according to the date on the notice of the violation.

The State of Texas requires revenue from the program to be spent on traffic safety programs, so the elimination of the program will affect the Arlington Police Department.

Arlington's fiscal year 2015 adopted budget included $2,170,000 in revenue to fund three non-sworn program administration positions and 23 sworn police officer positions (nine for DWI unit and 14 patrol positions).

The three non-sworn program administration positions are being eliminated. In fact, two of the administration positions were recently vacated and the positions were held open. The third position is being transferred to fill another vacancy.

As for the sworn police personnel, the department's force will be effectively lowered by 23 from 643 to 620. Currently, there are 622 filled sworn police positions with an additional 16 officers scheduled to graduate from the academy this July.

Money needed to fund positions above the 620 threshold is expected to come from the City of Arlington's Business Continuity Reserve. This reserve was established as part of the City's financial principles to specifically assist the City in smoothing transitions during unplanned economic loss such as grant eliminations, economic downturn, etc.

This summer, city leaders will begin work on the budget process for fiscal year 2016, which begins October 1, 2015. As part of this process, the City of Arlington will identify budgetary priorities and consider other options for restoring authorized strength and completing an orderly closure of the red light camera program.