YOUNGSTOWN — Unstaffed speed cameras in 21 school zones in Youngstown will be turned on again beginning Tuesday.

The speed enforcement cameras are turned on when the school day starts and don’t shut off until 6 p.m.

The city collected $916,721 in fines during the 2024-25 school year on top of the $597,640 it received in 2023. Yet the city has spent only $51,522 of that money.

The issue is the city is heavily restricted in how it spends the speed camera money. It 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.

Of the $1,514,361 the city received from the camera citation fees, it paid $51,522 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 $1,462,839 of unused speed camera citation money sits in a city account.

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.

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 schools with speed cameras and the times for the reduced 20 mph enforcement are:

* Cardinal Mooney High School, 7:30-9:30 a.m. and 2-4 p.m.

* East High School, 7-9 a.m. and 2-4 p.m.

* Harding Elementary School, 7:30-9:30 a.m. and 2:30-4:30 p.m.

* Horizon Science Academy, 6:45-8:45 a.m. and 1:30-3:30 p.m.

* Potential Development, 7-9 a.m. and 1:30-3:30 p.m.

* Youngstown Early College, 6-8 a.m. and 1:30-3:30 p.m.

* Ursuline High School, 6:45-8:45 a.m. and 1:30-3:30 p.m.

* Summit Academy, 6:15-8:15 a.m. and 1:15-3:15 p.m.

* Valley Christian, 6:30-8:30 a.m. and 1:30-3:30 p.m.

* Volney Rogers School, 7:30-9:30 a.m. and 2:30-4:30 p.m.

* Taft Elementary School, 7:30-9:30 a.m. and 2:30-4:30 p.m.

* Woodrow Wilson School, 6-8 a.m. and 1-3 p.m.

* Youngstown Academy of Excellence, 7-9 a.m. and 2-4 p.m.

* Chaney Middle School, 6:45-8:45 a.m. and 2:15-4:15 p.m.

* Rayen Early College, 6-8 a.m. and 1:30-3:30 p.m.

* Chaney High School, 7-9 a.m. and 2-4 p.m.

* Kirkmere Elementary School, 8-10 a.m. and 12:30-2:30 p.m.

* St. Christine School, 6:45-8:45 a.m. and 1:30-3:30 p.m.

* Stambaugh Charter Academy, 7:30-9:30 a.m. and 2:30-4:30 p.m.

* Southside Academy, 6:45-8:45 a.m. and 2-4 p.m.

* Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School, 7:30-9:30 a.m. and 2:30-4:30 p.m.