(Houston, TX — Gail Delaughter, KUHF)  The city of Houston has announced a proposed settlement with American Traffic Solutions, the company that operated the city’s contested and then canceled red light camera program. Houston voters rejected the plan in November 2010, and a legal battle  erupted with ATS after the city turned off the cameras as the company cried breach of contract. The city’s original 2006 agreement with ATS was not set to expire until 2014.

The cameras proved so unpopular the City Council and general public each voted to remove them in separate actions despite mayoral support for the plan.

The settlement awards ATS close to $5 million. City officials say the money to pay the settlement will come from previously collected red-light fines that are being held in escrow. There’s also $25 million in unpaid fines that the city is still hoping to collect.

In a statement, Houston Mayor Annise Parker says ATS will be paid $2.3 million up front. She says that’s how much ATS would have received had the cameras stayed on from the time they were initially turned off after the 2010 election to December 2011. The agreement calls for ATS to get another $2.4 million over three years.

“I am thankful that traffic violators, not Houston taxpayers, will be paying for this,” says Parker. “This is a reasonable settlement and I thank the city legal department for its diligence in getting it done.”

Parker says in exchange for the payments, ATS has agreed to drop its lawsuit  against the city for breach of contract. The company has also agreed to take down all of its cameras within 60 days of approval of the settlement by the Houston City Council. Council members are expected to consider the settlement at this week’s meeting.

Parker said earlier she believed the red light cameras saved lives, but she would go along with the will of the people. Opponents argued the  cameras were more about making money for the city than public safety.

The cameras were shut off after the 2010 election, which included a voter referendum on using the cameras or not.  They were turned back on for a brief period last summer after a federal judge ruled the red light camera referendum was improperly placed on the ballot. The city council has since voted to repeal the original ordinance that allowed the cameras.