Seven Florida cities collected 10 cents or more in fines and forfeitures for every dollar of general revenue in fiscal year 2023, according to a new report from Reason Foundation that examined financial statements from over 10,000 cities and counties nationwide. The analysis provides the most comprehensive picture to date of "taxation by citation" — the practice of using police and court systems to fund basic government operations. Local governments across the country collect approximately $8 billion annually from law enforcement fines and forfeitures, though this typically represents just 0.38% of total budgets on average.
The seven Florida cities with the highest fiscal reliance on fines are Lawtey (91 cents per dollar of general revenue), Port Richey (30 cents), Belle Isle (13 cents), Opa-Locka (12 cents), West Miami (12 cents), Orange Park (12 cents), and Green Cove Springs (10 cents). In per-capita terms, Port Richey leads at $616 per resident, with much of that revenue coming from red light enforcement cameras. A Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles report showed red light cameras in Port Richey generated $1,196,914.42 from 11,737 citations between July 1, 2024, and June 30, 2025, with the city retaining $525,923.42. Fines and forfeitures revenue in Port Richey surged from $646,416 to $1,183,927 between fiscal years 2015 and 2016, with the city attributing that year's 18.28% increase in governmental funds primarily to $602,565 from red light camera enforcement.
The report finds that research suggests local governments often turn to fines and forfeitures revenue to offset losses elsewhere. Port Richey's own FY2016 financial report stated that "through initiatives such as water and sewer utility rate increases, the re-instatement of the electric utility tax, and the ability to utilize red light cameras, the city has been able to considerably improve upon its financial position." When asked what factors determine the success or failure of red light cameras, Port Richey listed the number of crashes, pedestrian safety, and revenue. The authors note that Florida has had laws banning traffic citation quotas since 1992, but the state's original ban only applied to state agencies, leaving county sheriff's offices and municipal police departments entirely exempt.
The issue may become more urgent because Florida voters will decide in November on a constitutional amendment projected to cut non-school local government revenue by $11.86 billion on a recurring basis. The Waldo scandal of 2014 illustrates the risks: that small north-central Florida town generated nearly half its general revenue from traffic citations, and five officers alleged their chief and city manager had imposed a quota of one ticket per hour per shift. The Legislature responded with the 2015 "Waldo Bill" extending the quota ban to sheriffs and municipal police, but the law still has no mechanism for officers to report violations and no requirement that the state investigate them. Even with a well-enforced quota ban, cameras can't be pressured to hit quotas, so the ban has no bearing on red light camera enforcement even when a city openly counts on citation revenue to balance its budget.
The report recommends Florida adopt reforms modeled on Ohio's 2025 law, which requires the attorney general to maintain a public online form for officers to report quota violations anonymously and obligates the state to investigate every report within a year. The authors also point to five states — Alabama, Maryland, Missouri, Texas, and Utah — that have placed explicit caps on the share of revenues local governments may collect from fines and forfeitures, diverting any revenue above the cap beyond the collecting government's control. Florida currently requires any jurisdiction collecting more than 33% of its law enforcement funding from traffic fines to file a report with the Legislative Auditing Committee, but the statute triggers nothing but paperwork with no publication requirement, no investigation authority, and no specified consequences for jurisdictions that simply don't report. Adopting a stronger quota ban and a cap on fine revenue now, before potential property tax pressure arrives this fall, would be far better than reacting after the fact.