Windsor Heights speed cameras issued 29,758 tickets and at least $1.9 million in fines during the first eight months of 2017.

That's a dramatic increase from 2016 when 1,986 automated tickets were issued for the entire year.

It follows the installation in January of two permanent speed cameras within a six-block stretch on University Avenue. Those cameras cover four lanes of traffic and issue tickets to drivers going at least 11 mph over the 25 mph speed limit.

"It's apparently working," said Zachary Bales-Henry, the only member of the Windsor Heights City Council to vote against the University Avenue cameras.

"It’s a double-edged sword. I don’t agree with the cameras, but on the other hand, they only issue (tickets) to people violating the speed limit," he said.

Windsor Heights has another camera attached to a police car that is moved throughout the city.

Those three cameras are now generating nearly as many tickets per month as Des Moines' nine traffic cameras, which have issued 32,578 tickets since Windsor Heights' cameras were turned on.

On Monday, the Windsor Heights City Council try to decide how the city will spend the money generated by the tickets.

Revenue to the city could top $1 million this year, up from $45,560 in 2016.

But that revenue will depend in part on how many people pay the fines, which are not tied to driving records or insurance rates.

"I've gotten over 15 tickets since (the permanent cameras were installed) and I tear them up and throw them away," Patrick Dempsey said Thursday over his lunch at Grounds for Celebration on University Avenue.

He drives through Windsor Heights twice a day for his job. "It's a scam," he said.

City numbers show that through August about 68 percent of the citations issued in 2017 were paid.

Tracy Codel of West Des Moines said the cameras don't bother her since she knows not to speed in Windsor Heights.

It's been "long known" that you drive carefully there, even before the cameras, she said.

Windsor Heights launched its speed camera program in 2012, two years after two pedestrians were struck and killed by vehicles.

One person was hit at the intersection of University Avenue and 70th Street, just a block from where a speed camera was installed this year.

The city initially had two mobile cameras — one was installed in a Chevy Sonic and the other attached to a trailer — that could be moved to different locations.

But in January, it retired one mobile unit and added the fixed-position cameras at 6400 and 7100 University Ave.

Those cameras were turned on Jan. 27, and during their first full month of operation (February 2017) the city issued 4,289 speed camera citations. There were 377 citations the previous month.

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Windsor Heights police Capt. Derek Meyer said that increase is due in part to the permanent cameras operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

They also have improved technology that can monitor 32 vehicles across four lanes of traffic.

The mobile units used by the city before July 2016 only tracked two lanes of traffic. They were moved around based on complaints, often ending up on lower traffic streets, and they were only turned on for a few hours a day, Meyer said.

University Avenue on the other hand saw about 309,000 vehicles in August and the speed cameras issued 4,594 tickets. That's about 1.5 percent of drivers.

"Percentage-wise it's low, but it's still way more than we want," Meyer said.

This year will be used as a base-line to determine whether the program is effective in slowing down drivers, he said.

"Repeat violations are low in Windsor Heights, indicating the safety camera program is successful in changing driver behavior," he said. Only about 10 percent of violators have received a second ticket this year, he said.

Fines range from $65 for drivers traveling between 11 and 15 mph over the speed limit up to $130 for violations that occur in a construction zone.

American Traffic Solutions, the vendor that owns and maintains Windsor Heights' cameras, takes a $26 fee from each fine.

Windsor Heights did not have total revenue figures for 2017, but city documents show that 20,509 fines were paid through August this year. If each ticket was $65 (the lowest fine issued by the cameras) then the city would have collected $799,851 through the first eight months of 2017.

Des Moines issued 32,578 tickets between Jan. 27 and Aug. 31. That includes tickets from five red light cameras, three mobile speed units and the I-235 camera before it was shut off in May, said Sgt. Paul Parizek, spokesman for the Des Moines Police Department.

The city estimates it generated $1,787,624 during that time.

But the revenue portion is hard to determine since people take their time to pay off tickets, Parizek said.

"The revenue we receive in the month of March 2017, for example, is not from tickets issued during that time. They are most likely from January or December," he said.

Polk County, which owns two mobile speed units, issued 2,292 tickets during the same time period and generated $157,750.

Windsor Heights directs speed camera revenue into the city's general fund, according to City Administrator Elizabeth Hansen.

It has dedicated $148,000 to a controversial sidewalk project, but city leaders have yet to decide how to spend the rest of the money.

Bales-Henry said wants the money spent on infrastructure, specifically residential streets.

"What it comes down to is I don’t think that speed camera money should be propping up the government," he said.

The Windsor Heights City Council will discuss the issue Monday. It meets at 6 p.m. at City Hall, 1133 66th St. in Windsor Heights.