Is Nassau bringing back a ticket amnesty program?

Despite a report by the Nassau Comptroller's Office stating  the county's plan to revive a program to reduce fines for unpaid traffic tickets, the legislature says no such initiative is being considered, leaving drivers in the lurch.

Officials set out to implement Ticket Amnesty and Reconciliation programs this year, budgeting $18.5 million in anticipated revenue from recouped fines, according to a recent midyear budget review by Nassau's Comptroller. But the programs have not been implemented, leaving a shortfall of the full nearly $19 million just four months before the next budget takes effect.

The comptroller's office wrote in its report, citing the county's budget office, that "it is expected that the programs will be approved by the Legislature in 2025." But a spokeswoman for the legislature said no bills related to this program have been filed for lawmakers to consider.

A spokeswoman for the comptroller did not respond to questions about why the report stated the program was expected to begin this year pending legislative approval. A spokesman for Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, whose office conceives the budget, declined to comment.

The county's financial watchdog group, the Nassau Interim Finance Authority, said officials overestimated projected revenue from these programs and agreed the county would fall short by $18.5 million. The ticket amnesty and reconciliation programs "were never advanced beyond press releases," the agency wrote in a report last month. 

Nassau's county executive is tasked with drawing up its budget and submitting it to the legislature for a vote. Lawmakers adopted Blakeman's $4.2 billion budget last fall, voting along party lines with Republicans in favor and Democrats in opposition. NIFA, which has the power to amend the county's budget, called it "extremely troubling" and said it did not comply with standard accounting principles.

Former County Executive Edward Mangano implemented a ticket amnesty program in 2016, setting out to recoup $118 million in outstanding traffic and parking tickets issued between 1982 and 2013. The three-month program raked in $524,000 for the county.

Revenue from traffic and red-light camera fines account for nearly 2% of Nassau’s budget this year, according to the comptroller. The county made nearly $14 million from red light camera tickets through June of this year, charging drivers a $50 fine, plus a $45 "drive responsibility fee" and a $50 "public safety fee." Officials stopped billing drivers for the fees after a judge determined they were illegal.

Under the county’s last ticket amnesty program, more than 1,500 drivers took advantage of the program to settle thousands of unpaid tickets, clearing 2% of the county’s backlog, Newsday reported. Still, more than half a million tickets were left unpaid, leaving the county short by more than $100 million.

John Marks, former executive director of Nassau’s Traffic and Parking Violations Agency, which had overseen the initiative, was disappointed more drivers did not take advantage of the program nearly a decade ago.

"We tried to be reasonable," he told Newsday in 2016. "We are not heartless. But, if after everything we offered they still don’t pay, then enough is enough. No more Mr. Nice Guy."

Correction: Nassau County's proposed Ticket Amnesty Program and Ticket Reconciliation Program are expected to be approved by the Nassau County Legislature this year, according to the county comptroller's office citing the county's budget office. An earlier version and headline to this story did not cite the budget office as the primary source of the plan.