YOUNGSTOWN — City council today will consider using $267,002 in revenue from its speed camera program in school zones to purchase three police vehicles and three metal detectors.

The three vehicles — 2025 Ford Police Interceptor Utility SUVs — cost about $46,000 each, said Detective Sgt. Seann Carfolo, the police department’s fiscal officer.

Officers will patrol around school areas in the three new vehicles on school days between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. and then the SUVs become part of the department’s fleet the rest of the day, said city Finance Director Kyle Miasek.

The department typically doesn’t have officers around school buildings, but will make the change in order to get the vehicles and comply with state law, Miasek said.

Under state law that restricts the use of speed cameras, Youngstown can use its share of the citation collection revenue only for school safety resources.

“This meets the compliance requirements and shows we’re spending the dollars wisely,” Miasek said. “There’s no rule stating 24 hours so the vehicles will help with the other 16 hours of the day as part of the police fleet.”

The three metal detectors will be given to the Youngstown school district for use at its buildings, Carfolo said.

Stacy Quinones, the school district’s spokeswoman, said the metal detectors “will be deployed at buildings in accordance with the district’s security plan. We cannot provide specifics on where their locations will be.”

The city had the speed cameras in school zones turned back on Sept. 18 after having them shut off in 2023 after about three months of use. The cameras were turned off during a lengthy dispute between the city administration and the courts about how appeals of speed citations would be handled.

The two sides finalized an agreement Aug. 21.

The city implemented the speed cameras in phases beginning Feb. 21, 2023. They were turned off between May 18 and June 2, 2023, when classes ended. The cameras were supposed to be turned back on Sept. 18, 2023, when classes resumed, but it took a year because of the disagreement.

The city had $596,878 in the fund from 2023.

City council voted Nov. 20 to spend $52,000 from the fund to purchase a surveillance trailer with two cameras from Blue Line Solutions, the Chattanooga, Tennessee, company that operates the city’s school zone cameras.

If council approves the vehicle-metal detectors purchases today, the city will have spent $319,002 of the fund, which is 53.4% of it.

While the program restarted Sept. 18, Blue Line hasn’t paid anything to the city for this year as of Tuesday, said Carfolo and Miasek.

Under the agreement with Blue Line, the city gets 65% of the speed camera citation revenue with the company keeping the other 35%. Blue Line’s share of the paid citations from last year was $321,396.

In the three months of enforcement in 2023, 22,424 speeding citations were issued.

The collection rate of the citations was no higher than 41% and almost certainly lower based on penalties. When the city restarted the program, it chose to wipe the slate clean and not go after the thousands who hadn’t paid or those who contested the citations. About 300 contested the citations.

Motorists caught going at least 11 mph over the speed limit and up to 14 mph over it face a civil penalty of $100. Those going 15 to 20 mph over the limit face a $125 penalty and those traveling faster than 20 mph over the limit face a $150 penalty. They do not get points on their driving record for the citations.

Cameras are in use on school days from the time kids head to class until 6 p.m. They aren’t used on weekends, during the summer and on days when class is not in session.

During the two hours in the morning that kids go to school, and the two hours when they leave, the speed limit in those zones is 20 mph. In between and after school ends, the speed limit is 25 and 35 mph depending on the location.

There are flashing beacons in school zones that blink a yellow light before, during and after arrival and dismissal times for each school indicating the 20 mph reduced speed limit. The beacons don’t warn drivers that the cameras are on during other times of the day.