Gov. Bill Richardson this morning signed Senate Bill 442 into law, a bill that would limit the amount of fines the city of Albuquerque can levy from its red-light camera program and diverts a portion of its revenues from the program from the city's STOP program to the state, the Governor's Office announced in a news release.

Albuquerque Mayor Martin Chavez has threatened to scrap the program if the bill were signed, saying the city won't be able to support the program financially if money from the fines goes to the state, according to KOB-TV. 

"While I appreciate the Mayor's concerns and the city's last-minute effort to compromise, I believe the Legislature spoke loud and clear when it overwhelmingly passed this bill for the second straight year," Richardson said in the release.

"I am willing to work toward a legislative compromise next session that would  allow the city to keep a portion of the profits from red-light cameras to pay for administrative costs," the governor continued. "But I am not willing to continue to wait for the city to act."

The bill would divert about $2.4 million from the city to the state, but allows the city to keep about $5.1 million in revenue to pay operating costs, the Governor's Office said.

Richardson noted in the release a compromise proposed by City Councilor Ken Sanchez that would allow the city to keep an additional $1 million a year for administrative costs of the red-light program and allow the state to use about $1.4 million for DWI programs and Metro Court.

But Richardson said while the compromise proposal appeared reasonable, "there were no assurances that the rest of the City Council would go along with the plan."

Today was the last day the governor had to act on the legislation. 

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