Town of Wayawanda

SPEEDING LAW CHANGE HURT TOWN'S COFFERS:

The practice of speeding through Slate Hill on Interstate 84 is alive and well. But traffic cases are crawling these days through Wawayanda Town Court, leaving a drop in revenue from traffic tickets, to the tune of $17,000 last month.

The reason: state police put into effect a new policy in September banning troopers from negotiating plea bargains when they prosecute tickets.

For towns and villages like Wawayanda that have troopers ticketing drivers within their boundaries, it was as if someone hit the brakes on the train of cases rolling through traffic court.

Instead of ending in plea bargains, many more cases are now proceeding to trial, which is far more time-consuming.

Before the new policy, the town would handle 40 to 50 cases a month, said Wawayanda Town Justice Peter Gromacki, a former commander of state police Troop F out of Middletown. Now, he said, the court only handles 20 to 30 a month. "We are going to have a terrible backlog," he said.

With a revenue loss from August to September of $17,362, Wawayanda's Town Board decided recently to hire an attorney to prosecute traffic tickets.

"We can't afford to lose this kind of money," said Supervisor John Razzano. Even after the town pays an attorney fee of up to $125 per hour, it will save money, he said.

"It takes a bite out of town coffers," he said. "Without a prosecutor, all the town will get is $15 a case."
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Wawayanda was likely only going to keep a portion of the revenue lost in September. But it was enough to warrant concern in a town that holds the dubious distinction of a state police speeding-arrest record. Ray Layton was ticketed on I-84 in 1988 for going 123 mph, the highest speeding arrest recorded based on aerial observation.