YOUNGSTOWN — The city collected $916,721 in fines from unstaffed speed cameras in school zones during the 2024-25 school year — on top of the $597,640 it received in 2023 — yet has spent a mere $51,522 of that money.

The city’s problem largely stems from state law that heavily restricts spending of speed camera money used in school zones. Youngstown can spend the citation collections for only school safety resources, such as improvements to school zones as well as crosswalks, lighting and safety measures near those buildings.

“We’ll do what the law says is permitted,” said Mayor Jamael Tito Brown. “We’ll sit down with the school district and discuss what the law says. We won’t rush into it. We’re waiting for finance (department) to come up with plans and back it up with the law department. We want to properly use it and help with the school district’s needs. Between finance, law and the school district, we’ll find ways to use it where it benefits the students.”

To date, the only money spent from the $1.51 million collected by the city is $51,522 paid in December to Blue Line Solutions, the Chattanooga, Tennessee, company that runs the camera program, to purchase a surveillance trailer with two cameras.

The city gets 65% of the citation fees, with Blue Line keeping the remaining 35%.

In total, $2,329,786 in citations were paid by those caught by the cameras speeding in school zones. Blue Line got to keep $815,425 without any restrictions on how it is spent.

The administration on Dec. 18 sought to spend $211,251 to purchase three vehicles — 2025 Ford Interceptor Utility SUVs — and then turn them over to the school district.

But the city council vote on that purchase was stopped after Jason Small, a senior assistant law director, wrote right before the meeting that “brand new police cruisers cannot be ‘transferred’ or ‘donated’ to the board of education outright, such property would be subject to the auction provisions” of state law “after a finding of no need for a municipal purpose.”

Council voted Feb. 5 to repeal the legislation.

At that same meeting, council voted to spend up to $56,000 of the speed camera money to buy three metal detectors the city would own and permit the school district to use when classes are in session.The metal detectors could be used by the city at other times, as long as a majority of their use is in schools. However, that purchase has not been made to date.

Meanwhile, the $1.46 million of unused speed camera citation money sits in a city account.

The difficulties in spending the money won’t turn off the cameras, Brown said.

“There’s no plan to alter the program,” he said. “Safety is the No. 1 priority with these safety cameras.”

Brown said the collection of $916,721 in fees during this past school year “shows that people are speeding in school zones. When people ask me, ‘What can I do with this ticket?’ I say, ‘Slow down.’ Our students deserve to be safe.”

CAMERA HISTORY

Cameras are in use on school days from the time students 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 when 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.

Blue Line installed flashing beacons in school zones in September 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.

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.

The city first started using the unstaffed cameras in school zones in phases beginning Feb. 21, 2023, and were shut off when classes ended between May 18 and June 2, 2023. The speed cameras were supposed to be turned back on Sept. 18, 2023, when school began in Youngstown after a nearly one-month teacher strike was resolved.

But because of a disagreement between the city administration and the judicial branch about how or if the court would hold hearings on contested speed citations, the program stalled for a year.

A decision was reached in May 2024 to resolve the citation appeals issue and finalized three months later with Donna McCollum, a part-time municipal court magistrate, holding court monthly, which started in January, to hear appeals.

During that three-month period in 2023 when the cameras were in use, there were 22,424 speeding citations issued, with about 300 of them contested. Based on collections, even at the minimum $100 penalty, about 41% of those who were cited for speeding in school zones paid the citations

Because they are citations, there is nothing the city can do to enforce collections. Blue Line could turn over the unpaid citations to a collection agency, but that is highly unlikely.

The city chose to forgive those who didn’t pay the fees in 2023 when it resumed the program last September, having all of the citations canceled.

For the 2024-25 school year, which is about 8 ½ months, 37,367 citations were issued, according to Richard Vincent Hill, the city’s clerk of courts.

Even based on the minimum $100 penalty, that’s a 38% collection rate.

The cameras were used at 21 schools, both public and private, in the city during the 2024-25 school year. They are turned off when the school year is finished, which was June 6 for the city’s public schools, and prior to that for most private schools. The only school with speed cameras currently on is Potential Development on Market Street, with instruction ending there Wednesday.

The cameras will be turned on again when classes in schools in Youngstown resume. The city public schools are scheduled to start the 2025-26 school year Aug. 26.