School corporations request money for bus stop-arm cameras

The county’s four superintendents requested the commissioners submit a funding request to the county council to pay for 12 bus stop-arm cameras.

Speaking on behalf of the group, Northeast Dubois County School Corporation Superintendent Bill Hochgesang informed the commissioners that during the 2019 legislative session a bill was enacted that allowed the school corporations to request reimbursement from the county to cover the cost of school bus stop-arm cameras.

Pointing to the high propensity for the occurrence of these violations, Hochgesang provided statistics from an annual single-day audit of school bus stop arm violations the state conducts each school year. In 2019, there were 2,653 incidents across the state; In 2018, there were 3,082; in 2017, there were 2,280; and in 2016, there were 2,954.

“It is really a significant problem,” Hochgesang told the commissioners Monday morning.

Hochgesang told the commissioners that with the camera systems, the school corporations will be able to record the license plate information, car description and an image of the driver so police can have enough information to send to the prosecuting attorney’s office to adjudicate violators.

“We have many violators of stock arms every week,” added Dr. Tracy Lorey, Jasper’s superintendent. “Our bus drivers don’t have the ability to give us the appropriate information to identify and to actually prosecute those individuals who violate that law.”

While bus drivers immediately call violations into the corporation with descriptions of the violator vehicles and possible license plate numbers — if they were able to get them, drivers don’t always record the numbers correctly and they can’t identify the driver of the vehicle.

“They’re driving the bus they’re watching for traffic they’re monitoring the students,” Dr. Lorey said. “And so what we believe could potentially happen is with the use of cameras, we would be able to get the appropriate identifying information for those people who break that law, and then you would see an increase of prosecutions for violators.”

Southwest School Corporation is the only corporation with a stop-arm camera installed. It is on a single bus and according to Transportation Director Kelly Murphy, that stop-arm camera has led to two prosecutions of violators.

The cost of the cameras is about $1,800 per bus. The school corporations will purchase them, install them and then request reimbursement from the county. While the school corporation would make the initial purchase of the cameras, they would only recoup the costs of those cameras through the county and then the additional money for those violations would go to the county or to a special fund to reinvest or expand the camera program.

Commissioner Chad Blessinger asked why the school corporations didn’t pay for the cameras from their own budgets.

“Well, because I think we’re all strapped; that’s the honest to God truth,” Hochegsang said. “Our transportation budgets not only cover the cost of fuel and drivers, but it also covers the costs of buses and other things, too.”

Dubois County Prosecutor Anthony Quinn explained that the violators could be fined between $200 and $1,000 for a misdemeanor violation. If the special fund was created by the county, that money could then go into it and the equipment could be purchased from it in the future.

Although there are 88 bus routes in the county, initially, the school corporations are only requesting 12 cameras for certain high traffic areas like State Road 164, State Road 162, U.S. 231 and State Road 56. The cost is estimated to be about $22,000.

Commissioner Nick Hostetter asked if there was an educational component to the school’s efforts. He pointed out that he has witnessed cars passing buses stopped in front of his business, Azura Café, by using the left turn lane from Third Avenue onto State Road 164.

It is illegal to pass a bus in any lane when it stops to let out children and the stop arm is extended.

Murphy told the commissioners that they invest heavily in educating the public and students about bus safety. “We send out a lot of stuff through email through social media,” he explained.

Murphy told the commissioners about a recent violation in Huntingburg. The bus driver stopped, waited and checked the traffic three times as they are trained, according to Murphy. He then let the children out for the stop. Fortunately, the students are trained to stop and wait for the go-ahead from the bus driver to cross the street. “A car came flying through,” Murphy said. “If it had been two seconds later, it would have killed three kids. Luckily a police officer was right there.”

While the county could use the money collected from violators to reimburse the schools and fund the initiative for the future, Quinn explained that just because the court fines the violators, that doesn’t mean those costs are collected. “There are a lot of outstanding court costs that don’t get collected,” he said. “Even if we get a conviction and we impose a $500 fine, that person may or may not ever pay that fee. It is going to take some collections efforts.”

Blessinger said he didn’t know if this was a fund the county should be responsible for. “Is it the role of county government to pay for these when we are a different taxing entity,” he said.

He added that the townships could pay for it potentially. “They are sitting on a lot of reserves,” Blessinger said.

Commissioner Elmer Brames allowed that the townships could potentially reimburse the schools but they did not have the ability to collect the funds. “The townships don’t have the ability like the county to recapture those funds,” he said.

He said he understood the county would be responsible for collecting the fines to pay for this.

Blessinger pointed out that the county is still in the process of taking on several large projects related to the justice system, jail and community corrections. “Do we have funds to pay for both,” he asked.

Hostetter commented that the council would determine if there was enough funding to pay for the program. The commissioners were responsible for the initial approval. “I don’t have a problem with them (school corporations) approaching the council,” he said.

Blessinger said he could support the county setting up the fund and then the corporations coming back in four years to seek reimbursement from the fund’s accumulated money to pay for cameras then.

Brames pointed out that the corporations were requesting the initial reimbursement to cover the expense in 2020.

Hostetter made the motion that the county create the school safety fund and that it reimburse the corporations for the initial cost of the cameras. The motion passed with support from Hostetter and Brames with Blessinger voting against it. The issue will be sent to the council for final approval.