(This story was updated to correct an error in how many speeding tickets Brice has filed and the cost of the filing fee on tickets.)
Columbus City Council President Shannon G. Hardin is advocating for state lawmakers to close a loophole that allows the tiny village of Brice to issue thousands of camera-enforced speeding tickets asa civil offense without paying the processing costs up front.
Hardin offered more details on the reforms he wants to see after he slammed Brice for being a speed trap online on July 15. The following day, Hardin told The Dispatch he’s standing up for Columbus residents who get these tickets driving through the small village and shoulder the cost to the Franklin County Municipal Court Clerk’s office. At least two Ohio lawmakers from Columbus also want to see a change.
“I want to put some pressure to close this very rarely used loophole that allows villages to use video camera enforcement if there’s a school zone and not have to pay the processing fee for the tickets,” Hardin said. “That really is what I believe is allowing and encouraging them to use their stretch of road as a speed trap.”
Hardin also pointed out that 40% of the money Brice collects goes to the private company that operates and supplies the cameras for free.
State Rep. Latyna Humphrey, D-Columbus, whose district includes Brice, told The Dispatch that she is working with Hardin on this issue.
“This is unfair to the residents. It’s burdensome as far as the cost, and it’s not fair to my constituents,” Humphrey said. “I’m not saying they shouldn’t have to follow the speed limit, but at some point it’s predatory.”
Hardin said it’s important for officers to enforce speed limits in person, which deters speeding, as opposed to cameras issuing a long-after-the-fact ticket.
Brice is a 0.1-square-mile village of about 100 residents, an island surrounded by Columbus on the Southeast Side of the city. The village has been known as an infamous speed trap for years. Brice stopped collecting tickets for a couple of years beginning in 2021 after the Ohio auditor and judges called the village out for its camera-enforced system. But in September 2024, Brice installed two automated speed cameras in a school zone for Brice Christian Academy.
Brice Police Chief Delano “Bud” Bauchmoyer previously told The Dispatch that drivers should follow the posted speed limits or drive around Brice.
“Am I supposed to turn my back on people breaking the law? My job is to enforce the law,” Bauchmoyer said.
Brice has issued 8,950 speeding tickets and collected $432,282 since September 2024, according to statistics from the Franklin County Municipal Clerk’s Office. The tickets range from $221 to $261. Each includes a court filing fee, which is now $116.
The fees don’t completely offset how much Brice is costing the municipal clerk’s office, said Tate Wooding, a spokesperson for Clerk Lori M. Tyack. Especially since Wooding said many tickets go unpaid, but the clerk’s office still has to process them.
The clerk’s office has requested money from Columbus, which operates the county municipal court, to hire additional staff solely to work on processing speed tickets out of Brice, according to Wooding.
“I have expressed my concerns to Council President Hardin regarding the demand of staff resources necessary to process the volume of cases filed by the Village of Brice and support his interest in this matter,” Tyack said in an emailed statement.
Hardin said he became aware of what is happening in Brice after he received a speeding ticket in the mail from Brice in December. But, Hardin said, this story is not about him; it’s about thousands of residents.
“I’m happy it happened to me, because if it didn’t, I would not know the cost, I would not know the extent,” Hardin said. “I’m glad I posted (on social media) about it. I knew the numbers, but I didn’t know the stories of how it was impacting people’s lives.”
State Rep. Ismail Mohamed, D-Columbus, represents a northern section of Franklin County but works as an attorney often in the municipal court and chimed in on Facebook to agree with Hardin. Mohamed told The Dispatch that he’s heard that Brice is straining the municipal court, and he would support reform.
“I know other lawmakers are in agreement,” Mohamed said. “These smaller villages aren’t in conformity with the overall court system and don’t have a lot of oversight. I think there are bigger things at play beyond the village of Brice.”
Government and politics reporter Jordan Laird can be reached at jlaird@dispatch.com. Follow her on X, Instagram and Bluesky at @LairdWrites.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus Council President Hardin asks lawmakers to close speed trap ‘loophole’ in Brice
Reporting by Jordan Laird, Columbus Dispatch / The Columbus Dispatch
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