That’s where the (fine) money goes

When I first came to Central Texas in 1960 to attend the University of Texas, I fell in with a group that liked to make regular pilgrimages to San Antonio. Later I began dating a coed who was from San Antonio and that led to an increased number of car trips to the Alamo City. The scariest city on the road between Austin and San Antonio at that name was none other than Buda. Rumor had it at the time that Buda was known throughout Texas and the rest of the nation, as the world’s most notorious speed trap. I never tried to find out for myself because I purposely drove at least five, sometimes 10, miles an hour under the speed limit when going through Buda. The legend at the time was that if you came within a mile of exceeding the speed limit, the Buda Speed Nazis would nab you and that speeding fines were the sole source of revenue for Buda’s government. This was before radar guns came into common use and the sole source of evidence as to whether or not a motorist was speeding were the words of the Buda cops. Even today, 56 years later, the first words that come to my mind when someone mentions Buda is "speed trap."

I say that only because earlier this week, when I reported on what I viewed as the success of the Kyle Police Department’s one-day crackdown Monday on I-35 speeding, City Council member Damon Fogley suggested I also inform at least those who read this blog, where that money goes. And I thought to myself, first, "That’s a really good idea" because I would like to know the answer to that myself, and, immediately thereafter: Buda = Speed Trap.

If I had to guess, I would have said the money goes either to help finance city government in general or into funding the community courts specifically. But I decided not to guess and turn to the person I perceive as the expert on all things involving City government and money, Kyle’s Director of Finance Perwez A. Moheet. And, lo and behold, I discovered something I did not know before: Although the lion’s share of the money collected from traffic citations does flow into the City’s coffers, the State of Texas gets a share as well. It’s kind of like that scene in Goodfellas, after Henry Hill and Jimmy Conway pull off the $5.875 million Lufthansa heist at Kennedy Airport in 1978 they make sure the boss of their crime family, Pauli Cicero, gets his share, "his tribute," even though he had absolutely no role in the caper.

How much the City receives versus how much the State gets from each ticket varies according to the type of violation involved, Moheet informed me. For instance, the fine attached to a speeding ticket in which the ticketed motorist is cited for driving 15 miles an hour above the posted limit is going to be $239.10. Of that $83.50 (34.9 percent) is the State’s "tribute" and the other $155.60 comes to the City of Kyle. The fines for an expired registration and driving without and license are $141, with $53.50 (37.9 percent) going to the State and $87.60 to the City. The fines for failure to appear in court and failure to provide proof of financial responsibility are both $341, with the State only siphoning off $53.40 (15.7 percent) and the City collecting the remaining $287.60. Those offenses, Moheet said, are the five most common "traffic related violations we process through the Kyle Municipal Court."

Moheet, who said all these fines flow into the City’s General Fund which is the pot of money used to pay for the overall municipal government, also told me that over the last five years, the city’s take for traffic citations has averaged $777,102.80 per year, which amounts to roughly only 4.1 percent of this year’s General Fund budget, not anywhere close to being the sole source or revenue for the City’s government.

Kyle PD’s speeding crackdown yields phenomenal results

I find these numbers absolutely shocking: The Kyle Police Department enforced a well publicized crackdown on I-35 speeding Monday that resulted in the patrol officers issuing 47 traffic citations, according to figures released today by Police Chief Jeff Barnett. Here’s what I find truly amazing about that number. The week before, on Monday, May 9, just one citation was issued.

Barnett said the success of the program guarantees it will be repeated. "We will do this throughout the summer," he said. The program is part of an effort to reduce the number of traffic accidents in Kyle on I-35.

Like I predicted before the actual crackdown day, 87 percent of those motorists ticketed were from out of town. Hey, I’m not one of the world’s greatest prognosticators, so in that rare instance when I get something right, I’m going to let the world know about it. The actual numbers, Barnett said, were "41 out of 47 did not have a City of Kyle address."

Which just goes to prove my theory that more people need to not only slow down when driving through Kyle, but actually exit off the interstate and stop in town for some delicious coffee, barbecue and pie.

Kyle PD devoting Monday to stopping speeders

I’m betting the majority of drivers who drive faster than 70, 75 miles an hour on Interstate 35 are from out of town. For some unknown reason that has to be completely unfathomable to those of us who have chosen to make Kyle our home, I’m guessing there’s a small faction of drivers who desire to get through our fair city as quickly as possible. Oh, how I’m looking forward to hearing how many of these misguided miscreants get nabbed for speeding Monday by the Kyle Police Department.

You see, thanks to a grant from the Texas Department of Public Safety, our local gendarmes are going to beef up their presence along the interstate, as well as the highway’s access roads, this coming Monday expressly to nab those folks attempting to break the San Antonio-Austin land speed record. The action, according to a news release emanating from the City today, is to attempt to reduce the number of accidents on the highway.

"We are giving everyone a heads up because we want you to slow down," the news release slyly claimed a Kyle Police Lt. Andre Marmolejo actually said. I wonder about the authenticity of the statement only because obviously he can’t give "everyone a heads up" because, like I said earlier, I fully expect those caught in the speeder’s web will be from out of town.

And if they’re not from out of town, they deserve every punishment the law allows because Lt. Marmolejo did give you "a heads up" and I did what I could to pass it along.

You can’t say we didn’t warn you.

Daylight Savings Time so change your batteries

OK, this really has absolutely nothing to do with city government, per se. I’m going to justify it, however, because it does have something to do with public safety and the largest chunk of any municipal General Fund budget goes to public safety.

I’m convinced the city’s public safety officials will agree with me when I say you should change the batteries in your smoke alarms every six months. I’m always reminded to do this by the start and the end of Daylight Savings Time.

Daylight Savings begins Sunday, so if you haven’t done so in a while, here’s a reminder to protect yourselves and your loved ones by changing the batteries in your home smoke alarms and to do so every time Daylight Savings kicks in or out. It’s just a simple way to remember to take this precaution.

Proposed stop signs in Waterleaf highlight upcoming council agenda

At the request of CM Damon Fogley, the Kyle City Council will consider Wednesday installing three stop signs in the Waterleaf subdivision which Fogley calls home. The locations for the stop signs are at the intersections of New Bridge and Gina drives, Waterleaf Boulevard and Connor Elkins Drive and New Country Road and Gina Drive.

Fogley says the stop signs are needed to reduce speeding in the neighborhood.

No public hearing is planned for this item, so citizens who want to express an opinion on the proposal will need to do so during the Citizen Comments section of the meeting, which takes place at the beginning of the 7 p.m. session at City Hall. This week's meeting is being held on Wednesday because Tuesday, the council's normal meeting day, is when Texas celebrates National Night Out.

Nipped that threat in the bud just in the nick of time

According to statistics provided by Kyle Police Chief Jeff Barnett and city spokesperson Kim Hilsenbeck, our of the 317 traffic accidents Kyle police investigated in 2014 and the 325 so far this year, two of them each year were the result of driver distraction caused by the driver using some sort of hand held mobile electronic device. That’s a minuscule 0.6 percent of all traffic accidents.

Of course, a few drivers may have fibbed (Can you believe it?) to investigating officers when asked what happened. But still.

On the other hand, 5.9 percent of all criminal incidents (2,135 out of 36,200) investigated by Kyle police involved use of handguns last year and that number rose to 6.2 percent this year.

Welcome to Kyle, the city that believes "Guns don’t kill people, cell phones do."