From http://www.avondaleestates.org/

Back in August, Decaturish published a story about the large number of traffic tickets issued by Avondale Estates Police officers.

Today the Atlanta Journal Constitution published an analysis of traffic tickets statewide, and concluded that Avondale ranks fifth in traffic ticket income per capita. The bulk of the AJC’s analysis is behind its pay wall, but you can read the summary of the story by clicking here.

The city’s audit for 2013 shows Avondale Police Officers set a new record for writing tickets. According to the audit, officers wrote 4,368 of them in 2013, the most citations issued since 2004. Avondale Estates officials told the public in February that the City Commission needed to amend the 2013 budget by $151,000 because traffic ticket revenues were less than expected. To read our story from August, click here.

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Macon.com also ran a summary of the AJC story and noted that 12 percent of Avondale’s revenue in 2012 came from traffic tickets. According to the article, the Executive Director of the Georgia Association of Police Chiefs said that fines above 10 percent of a municipality’s revenue suggest the municipality is too dependent on it. To read that story, click here.

Avondale officials did not return messages seeking comment for the story we published in August. We’ve reached out to city officials again to ask for their response to the newest data, and will update this story if they respond.