Saddle Rock received more than $434G from stop-sign ticket program, court records show

A small Nassau County village on the North Shore has received more than $434,000 from drivers through its stop sign camera ticket program, according to records contained in state and federal lawsuits.

The federal lawsuit claims Stop for Kids LLC, which administers the program on the Village of Saddle Rock's behalf, has no "legal basis" to operate. Plaintiff Faith Luper, 91, of Kings Point, filed the federal lawsuit in February. She has also sued the village, in a separate state case filed in October 2024, to halt the program. The state lawsuit is pending.

The village charges $60 for violations and is eligible for about 60% of the revenue, court filings show. Saddle Rock received more than $434,000 from the violations between 2022, when the program was implemented, through 2024, an attorney for the village confirmed in written responses to questions as part of the lawsuit, court records show. Village officials have not said whether that was the gross revenue the village raised from the tickets, or the net, after the vendor's share was paid.

Luper received three notices of violation for $60 each from September 2022 through August 2024, according to both lawsuits. Luper has paid the fines, filings show. She lives in the Village of Kings Point, which neighbors Saddle Rock on the Great Neck peninsula. Saddle Rock has about 1,000 residents.

“There is no authority granted the Village of Saddle Rock under New York Law to use such a system,” Jonathan Silver, Luper’s Queens-based attorney in both cases, wrote in the federal complaint. The company has yet to file a response to the federal lawsuit, court filings show.

Marky A. Suazo, Stop for Kids’ Manhattan-based lawyer, declined to comment. Officials from Stop for Kids did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

Maureen Casey, the village's Albertson-based attorney, has denied the claims in the state case and sought its dismissal. The village is now being represented by Susan Mauro, also of Albertson, in the litigation. Mauro could not be reached for comment.

Revenue revealed

Court documents revealed details about the nearly 4-year-old enforcement program.

Ticket revenue is shared between Stop for Kids and Saddle Rock, court records show. Through written responses, Casey confirmed that the village received more than $434,000 from the stop sign violations over a three-year period: $60,602 in 2022; $163,740.88 in 2023; and $210,302.26 in 2024. Casey did not specify whether that money was just the village's share.

Former Saddle Rock Mayor Dan Levy said the village keeps about 60% of all ticket revenue, amounting to $33.80 per ticket, according to a transcript of a March 27 deposition in the state case. Stripe, a financial services program, gets $2.04 per ticket, Levy told Silver. Stop for Kids receives a processing fee of about $1.50 to $1.80, as well as the remaining balance, about $22.

The village did not respond to a request to share how much revenue it has collected from the program. Kamran Barelli, a former village trustee, has been listed as a principal of Stop For Kids, Newsday has reported. Barelli could not be reached for comment.

A total of 6,760 tickets were mailed during the 12-month period ending on Dec. 19, 2025, Suazo wrote in a letter to Silver late last year.

The program was implemented in summer 2022. Levy previously defended the program as a crucial safety tool.

“The whole concept is to make my neighborhood more secure,” Levy told Newsday at the time. “I'm not looking for 60 bucks. I don't need it. We have plenty of money in the budget.”

Critics have said the program could not be implemented without corresponding state legislation. Before red light camera and bus stop-sign camera programs were in effect on Long Island, the state legislature had authorized their implementation.

In May 2023, State Sen. Jack Martins (R-Old Westbury) introduced a bill to allow the villages of Saddle Rock, Upper Brookville, Flower Hill, East Hampton, Westbury and Southampton to install and operate "stop sign photo violation monitoring systems." But the bill never made it out of committee, according to the State Senate's website. Martins then introduced a similar bill in April 2025, applying to villages in a county where the population is between 1 million and 1.53 million. That bill remains in committee.

Martins said in an interview he had heard from village officials, school board members, civic members and others looking for "an alternative to provide a way of enforcing."

"We hear from our local communities constantly that people ignore stop signs," Martins said. "Allowing municipalities, villages or towns the opportunity to place cameras on stop signs, I think, is an important tool for the local community."

'Not the most popular program'

The village conducted a trial analysis at the corner of Byron Lane and Emerson Drive over three months in 2022, according to an affidavit signed by Levy. Between February and April that year, more than 18,000 cars were observed at the intersection. About 8% of all cars observed came to a full stop, the affidavit stated.

In May 2022, the village board hired Stop For Kids to enforce the ticketing program. The village approved a law and sent emails to residents warning them about the monitoring. Initially, warnings were issued to drivers who did not comply, the affidavit stated. In September, the village discontinued the program and saw compliance fall. The next month, the program was reinstated. About 95% of all vehicles came to a full stop, Levy's affidavit said.

Levy's filing noted that the village has no sidewalks and defended the program as "a reasonable and nondiscriminatory effort" to address residents' concerns. That included, he said, "walking dogs and traveling with strollers without fear of being hit by a car failing to stop at a stop sign."

In an interview, Silver called the stop sign camera program “a money-making operation."

“Do we want to live in a world where every village can issue camera tickets for every intersection because they feel like it? Is that what we want to do? Do we want to allow a village, for example, to record where you are, at what time, where you’re going?”

Stop for Kids, according to the company's website, is an “AI technology provider dedicated to creating safer communities through innovative road safety solutions.”

The website description states: “We analyze video and perform classifications to generate unbiased evidence that supports road safety programs, improves driving behavior, and reduces traffic risks in school zones and residential neighborhoods.”