How does Bradenton spend school zone speeding ticket money? See the numbers
The City of Bradenton’s school zone cameras have fined thousands of drivers over the past year, and Florida laws dictate how the city must spend the revenue.
One year into the city’s school zone speeding camera program, the Bradenton Police Department has collected over $1 million from violations. But unlike most revenue sources, police officials say they hope that number decreases over time.
According to the department’s annual report, it issued 16,936 notices of violations to drivers who violated school zone speed limits from Oct. 1, 2024 to Sept. 30, 2025. Of those, 10,460 were paid and 2,928 were converted to uniform traffic citations.
Drivers who receive notices of violations must pay a $100 fine within 30 days, or it is converted to a uniform traffic citation, which includes higher fines.
In total, $1,001,256 was collected and distributed in accordance with Florida Statutes. Here are some of the ways the funds are distributed to further school district and police department initiatives:
- $389,766 to the City of Bradenton for public safety initiatives
- $200,510 is held for police initiatives
- $189,256 was spent on police vehicles
- $120,108 went to the School District of Manatee County
- $50,045 for supporting the school crossing guard program
Jeremy Giddens with the BPD presented these numbers to the Bradenton City Council on Wednesday as part of a state-required annual update. The school zone cameras were introduced for the 2024-2025 school year after state lawmakers passed legislation to allow automated speed enforcement.
State statutes also dictate how departments should allocate the revenue collected from automated speed enforcement. For every $100 penalty collected, the revenues must be divided as such:
- $60 to the city for public safety
- $20 to the State of Florida General Fund
- $12 to the School District of Manatee County
- $5 to the crossing guard program
- $3 to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement Education Fund
BPD seeing increased compliance with program
Giddens said the department’s goal is to see the revenue decrease as compliance increases.
“I like to move away from the dollars and cents. We’re looking at compliance,” Giddens told council members. “And if we’re looking at compliance and we’re seeing those numbers go down, then we’re obviously receiving less revenue which, I think, is the point of the program.”
And the department has already seen more compliance in the first year of the program. While Manatee County Government ended its school zone camera program amid public complaints, BPD says the city’s program continues to be effective.
Included in the report was a day in March 2024 compared to a similar day a year later. In 2024, the cameras recorded 3,464 speeders. On a similar day in 2025, there were 326 speeders, representing about a 90% reduction.
“Every which way I run these numbers, it is an effective program,” Giddens said. “The data, the stats of other reports, showed speed reduced within the area and those also extend into the neighborhoods, which creates a safe environment for all of us.”
Giddens said there has also been a 47% reduction in violations from the first 30 days of the school year — Aug. 11 to Sept. 10 — to the following 30 days.
A driver receives a notice of violation when exceeding the speed limit by more than 10 mph in the school zones. The cameras operate 30 minutes before and after school hours. More information and a list of camera locations is available through the BPD’s website.
This story was originally published November 17, 2025 at 5:50 AM.
