The Florida Supreme Court has agreed to decide whether red light cameras used prior to their approval by the Florida Legislature in 2010 were legal.
Class action lawsuits were filed against the cameras and lower courts have made conflicting rulings about them. Millions of dollars are at stake for cities that started handing out fines before state approval.
Lakeland used red light cameras to hand out more than $2 million in citations between 2009 and July 2010. A first offense brought a citation of $125.
"All the people that paid should get their money back," said Julius Aulisio, who received a citation after a camera showed his wife driving through a red light at Cleveland Heights Blvd and Edgewood Drive.
Aulisio is part of a class action lawsuit seeking refunds for people who got a citation before the cameras were approved by the Legislature.
Aside from the question of whether the cameras were legal for the city to use back then, Aulisio doesn't like the idea of red light cameras.
"Personally I really don't like the red light cameras," he said. "It's kind of like the Big Brother."
Lakeland has already agreed to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to settle one class action lawsuit. But lawyers who had filed a separate suit have tried to block that settlement. There are other suits against cameras in other cities still pending.
With all of the uncertainty, Lakeland has been keeping most of the rest of its challenged revenue unspent.
"We have always maintained we'll just keep the money in the bank until it's all through with the courts," city spokesperson Kevin Cook said.
Despite all the controversy, Lakeland is considering adding red light cameras to more intersections since the cameras are now authorized by the state. The city claims the cameras improve traffic safety with about 800 citations being handed out each month.