Dade City Votes Tonight on School-Zone Speed Cameras, Three Weeks Before Classes Start

Dade City commissioners take their first vote tonight on an ordinance that would let cameras mail $100 speeding tickets to drivers in local school zones, and the timing matters: Pasco County classes resume Thursday, Aug. 13. The first reading of Ordinance 2026-19, which authorizes automated speed detection systems inside city limits, is on the regular agenda for the 5:30 p.m. meeting in the Commission Chambers at City Hall, 38020 Meridian Ave.

A first reading is not the final word. Under Florida law a city has to adopt an ordinance before a single camera goes up, and the public hearing on that ordinance has to weigh traffic data or other evidence that the school zone in question carries a heightened safety risk. The agenda summary does not say which Dade City zones would be covered. The city has not announced a date for the second reading.

What state law allows, and what it forbids

The rules come from Florida Statutes 316.1896 and the sections it references. Cameras can only catch drivers going more than 10 mph over the school zone limit. Enforcement windows are tight: 30 minutes before through 30 minutes after the start and end of the school session, plus the breakfast program, with the posted lower limit enforceable through the school day.

Signs warning that photo or video enforcement is in use have to be posted, and they have to show the hours the school zone limit applies. If a city is starting a brand-new program, it must publicly announce the enforcement start date and run a public awareness campaign for at least 30 days first. During those 30 days a driver gets a warning only. No fine.

Notices go by first-class mail to the registered owner within 30 days, and they must include an image of the license plate, the date, time and place, the speed recorded, and the school zone limit at the time. Owners can request a hearing within 30 days, and no payment can be demanded before that hearing. Drivers can also file an affidavit if someone else was behind the wheel.

Where the $100 goes is set by statute, not by the city:

Recipient	Share
City of Dade City	$60
State General Revenue	$20
Pasco County school district	$12
FDLE training trust fund	$3

The city's $60 has to be spent administering the camera program and on other public safety work. The district's $12 is earmarked for school security, student transportation, or making student walking routes safer. The remainder is allocated under the statute. Cities running these systems also owe annual reports on how they are used.

The big school campuses in and around town, including Pasco Middle School on 14th Street and Pasco High School on State Road 52, drop to 15 or 20 mph at drop-off and pickup. Anyone who has sat in that line knows the traffic pattern. Whether cameras end up watching any of it depends on votes still to come.

The rest of tonight's agenda hits your bill next year

Commissioners are also being asked to set Thursday, Sept. 10, 2026 as the date for the tentative millage rate and budget hearings for fiscal year 2026-27. That is the meeting where the property tax rate gets its first public airing. A budget workshop is scheduled for 4 p.m. Thursday, July 30, in the same chambers.

Two other money items are on the agenda:

• Resolution 2026-09, preliminary non-ad valorem stormwater parcel assessments for FY 2026-27. These are the drainage charges that ride on the annual tax bill.
• Streetlighting assessments for three subdivisions. The Lynan Estates resolution is listed at $483 per parcel. Resolutions for the Pines and Highland Bluff subdivisions are also up for approval.

On the consent agenda sits Agreement 2026-32, a pre-annexation agreement for the Maggard Project, along with routine minutes approval. Consent items pass in a single vote unless a commissioner pulls one for discussion.

How to be heard

Public comment is three minutes, and you have to be in the room to use it. The city is streaming the meeting on Zoom in watch-and-listen mode only (Meeting ID 838 3795 2062, passcode on the posted agenda), and no comments are taken virtually. A dial-in number is listed on the agenda as well. The commission serving on this item is Mayor Scott Black, Mayor Pro-Tem Normita L. Woodard, and commissioners Kristin Church, James D. Shive and Mike Stout.

If the ordinance clears its first reading tonight, the next step is a second reading and public hearing, and after that the 30-day warning-only period required by state law would have to run before any fine is issued. Practically, that means the earliest a Dade City camera could mail an actual $100 penalty is well after the Aug. 13 first bell. Agendas and backup documents for both tonight's meeting and the Sept. 10 hearings are posted through the city's meetings and agendas page.

For more from City Hall, keep up with us at Dade City Community Website and follow along on Facebook. Going to the meeting or have thoughts on cameras in school zones? Join the conversation in our Community Forum. You can read more government and politics stories and more public safety coverage anytime.

Header photo: Ebyabe / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.5)