red light cameras

The credit rating agency Moody's called the expiration of New Jersey's red light program "credit negative."

(Tony Kurdzuk | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)

TRENTON — A Wall Street rating agency took a dim view of New Jersey's decision to let its controversial red light camera program expire.



Ending the program shuts down a revenue stream when local governments can ill afford it, Moody's Investors Service said in a statement, calling it "credit negative" in its weekly public finance credit outlook.



The expiration will "further constrain governments' ability to implement new revenue streams at a time when these governments are facing property tax limits, uneven sales tax growth and anti-tax sentiment," Moody's said.



A credit negative assessment doesn't suggest a rating or outlook change is imminent, but rather assesses the impact of a single event, Moody's said.



The cameras went dark this week at 73 intersections in two dozen towns. They'd generated between 1 percent and 2 percent of local revenues for communities participating in the 5-year pilot program, according to Moody's.



The rating agency noted that the revenue is significant enough that Newark Mayor Ras Baraka is calling to resurrect them. Newark was home to the largest share of the state's 73 red light cameras.



Opponents said the program was too rigid and had caused an uptick in rear-end accidents, while supporters argued the cameras were leading to safer roads.



A technical glitch forced towns in August to throw out 17,000 fines issued from the cameras operated by Automated Traffic Solutions because drivers didn't actually receive the tickets.



Days earlier, the former CEO of New Jersey's other red light camera operator, Redflex, was indicted on federal corruption charges for the company's Chicago dealings.





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Samantha Marcus may be reached at smarcus@njadvancemedia.com . Follow her on Twitter @samanthamarcus. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.