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Mayor Martin Chavez has vetoed a City Council measure that suspended the city's controversial red-light camera system until mid-January.

Chavez redlined the measure at City Hall this morning.

Shortly afterward, Council President Brad Winter, who sponsored the bill, said he plans to pursue a veto override at Monday's council meeting.

Chavez defended the veto by saying the council's 3-2 vote Dec. 3 was premature and too open-ended for him to support. Four council members boycotted the meeting and vote because of a political spat with Winter.

Chavez also said he wants to give a task force he appointed to investigate the red-light cameras some breathing room.

"I want to let the task force complete its work," he said.

The council bill would have suspended the red-light program, which issues tickets to drivers photographed running red lights or speeding through intersections and school zones, until the task force announces its findings.

Chavez said suspending the program would be saying that violators have the right to run red lights and speed.

"I would be saying you're not going to get a ticket for running a red light and you're not going to get a ticket for speeding through a school zone," Chavez said.

Chavez's veto coincided with the first face-to-face meeting of the task force he convened.

The panel, headed by Ted Shogry, the city's performance improvement manager, met in the mayor's office to determine the questions they want answered about the program, Shogry said.

First off, he said, the group wants to wade through professional research and data about red-light cameras in other cities.

The task force, composed of City Council staff, state legislative staff, and representatives of the Federal Highway Administration, Institute for Highway Safety and the state Department of Transportation's Traffic Safety Bureau, also plans to scour crash data compiled by the Albuquerque Police Department at the 20 intersections where the cameras operate.

Shogry said the task force's main goal is to decide if the red-light cameras and speed vans increase safety.

Shogry said task force members will look at crash data as a key to their decision.

"It is a mistake to look at it (data) too quickly," he said.