Red light cameras cost the City of Bremerton $81,013 in 2014, despite issuing more than 6,600 tickets and collecting $533,751, according to Councilwoman Leslie Daugs.

The cameras are owned by RedFlex Traffic Systems, based in Phoenix. The city pays RedFlex $432,000 per year for the service.

After paying RedFlex, the city was left with a revenue of $101,751. That money quickly disappeared after the City paid an estimated $48,100 in labor costs to police and courts, according to Daugs.

The bulk of the damage came from dismissed tickets.

If the court dismisses a red light ticket, the city pays for it. Last year, the city paid $134,664 to cover 1,086 dismissed red light tickets.

The high number of tickets appear to be the result of a loophole: If the ticketed driver claims he or she wasn’t driving  the ticket is dismissed, leaving the city to foot the bill.

“The labor cost comes from each department’s revenue, but if we continue on this trend the losses would affect the city in years to come,” Daugs said. “Currently, I was told that we are breaking even. But if all cost were associated under a line item ‘RedFlex’ it would show losses versus breaking even.

“The costs above, are not costs most people take into effect when looking into actual revenue. But with more detailed looking-into, there could be more costs that we are not aware of.”

Mayor Patty Lent disputes Daugs’ figures, claiming they don’t account for the number of accidents prevented by RedFlex cameras.

Lent did not provide the adjusted figures before press time.