The effort, announced on Aug. 1, is intended to rid Shaoyang of its budgetary and quality-of-life problems in one fell swoop. Wang Dasong, head of the Shaoyang urban management bureau, said the city was short one-third of the 300 paid workers needed to keep the streets free of illegal peddlers, jaywalkers and other scofflaws. “We were trying to improve the urban traffic situation without expending too many of the city’s resources,” he said in an interview.

Mr. Wang insists the initiative is an unbridled success. Other officials are apparently having second thoughts. Last week, Luo Limin, deputy director of Shaoyang’s propaganda bureau, said the authorities were debating whether to continue the program, according to China Daily. “We have received complaints about the low quality of some inspectors,” he said.

To do the job, officials chose neighborhood watch committee members, the omnipresent army of retirees who, once upon a time, were charged with making sure couples adhered to family planning rules while keeping an eye out for potential counterrevolutionaries. These days, the men and women who the wear telltale red armbands are responsible for disseminating government propaganda and keeping an eye out for terrorists and petty thieves, although much of the time they clot street corners trading gossip and recipes. Many are volunteers although Shaoyang officials are paying theirs 500 renminbi a month, about $78, plus 80 percent of all the fines they collect.

Shaoyang residents say the financial incentive has turned many of them into veritable ticketing machines. One driver told a local newspaper that he was surrounded by four zealous inspectors in flip-flops two weeks ago when he stopped his car at a crosswalk, the nose of his car protruding slightly over the painted line. The fine, he said, amounted to 10 renminbi, or about $1.60. “Ten yuan is just a little sum, but what really matters is an official explanation,” a Mr. Zhang said. “Why did they have the right to fine me?”

Motorcycles, far more ubiquitous than cars in Shaoyang, appear to have been hit especially hard. One resident said motorcyclists have been swamped with summonses for not wearing helmets (100 renminbi) or for failing to carry licenses (600 renminbi.)