Sanibel drivers are getting more than 130,000 dollars back after a school zone speed camera was found to be reading speeds too high

Altumint, the company that operates Sanibel's school zone speed cameras, will refund more than 130,000 dollars in traffic citations after one of its cameras was found to be recording speeds higher than drivers were actually travelling.

Gulf Coast News reporter Bernie Montas reported the account, published Monday evening.

The camera sits near Sanibel School and was reading speeds inaccurately for drivers headed west on Sanibel Captiva Road. The Sanibel Police Department received dozens of complaints about its accuracy in June.

The department checked the readings itself. "We tested the system 4 or 5 times with our own radar units," Chief William Dalton said. Those tests found the camera was reading speeds higher than the true figure.

The fault traces back to a move. Altumint relocated the camera in November 2025 in order to comply with Florida Department of Transportation requirements. It had originally been positioned closer to the road, and was set back farther, on the other side of a bike path. In that position, Chief Dalton said, the radar was obstructed by a nearby tree, which likely caused the faulty readings. Altumint has since added an arm to the camera's original pole so that it now has a clear view of the road.

The numbers set the scale. Of 1,701 citations issued, 1,335 will be refunded. The fine for speeding in a school zone is 100 dollars, an amount set by Florida law rather than by the city. The Sanibel Police Department will dismiss any citations that remain unpaid.

Chief Dalton was direct about what the refund does and does not establish. He said the department was "pleased that the vendors decided on their own to refund everybody," while adding that it was not likely that everyone who received a citation received it in error. On that account the refund is a decision by the vendor rather than an order, and it covers a group wider than the set of drivers who were actually misread.

It is not clear when the refunds will be issued. No date has been reported, and this brief does not supply one.

Two limits are worth stating. This publication has not obtained a City of Sanibel notice, a police department release, or a statement from Altumint setting out these figures. The city website did not respond to requests from this desk at the time of writing, and no primary document has been located, so every figure above is carried as Gulf Coast News reported it and is attributed accordingly. Independent background checks confirm the surrounding facts the account rests on: the City of Sanibel does contract with Altumint to operate the cameras and collect fines, the school zone fine is set at 100 dollars by state law, and William Dalton is the chief of the Sanibel Police Department.

Nothing here is an allegation of wrongdoing against the vendor or any person. What is described is a calibration fault, its cause as the police chief described it, and a refund the vendor has agreed to make.

This brief credits Gulf Coast News and reporter Bernie Montas for the reporting and links the original account.