Wilmington City Council preparing to let red light camera program end in June

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — Wilmington is the last city in North Carolina that has a red light camera program, but that will be changing soon.

Wilmington City Council is preparing to let the city’s 5-year contract for the program expire after the city manager did not include it in his recommended budget for the next fiscal year.

Every year, the city has spent more than $250,000 on more than 20 red light cameras placed throughout the Port City.

Ending the program has been one of Luke Waddell’s priorities since he joined the council in 2021.

While the red-light camera program will end, Waddell said cameras will still be in use at some intersections in the city.

“Ultimately, the only feedback that I received that said ‘Hey we do need cameras on these intersections’ that aren’t enforcement mechanisms, but are really just something that we can see if there is an incident, that they can go back and take a look at that for, you know, insurance purposes and see who’s at fault,” Waddell said. “And so that’s something that we’re definitely gonna be prioritizing moving forward.”

The city council is expected to approve its budget by June 30th.