The city’s governing body approved the doubling of off-duty police administrative fee from $5 to $10 per hour. City officials also tacked on an additional vehicle fee of $15 per hour to cover maintenance associated with police interceptors.

Police director Jerry Speziale said, during the initial discussions to raise the fees, the vehicle cost will help the city pay for worn out tires, batteries, oil, and gas for each interceptor used by an off-duty police officer while employed by a private company or the city’s school district.

Before the new fee was approved by the city council on Tuesday, January 20th, 2015, private organizations like utility companies that hire off-duty police officers to block off streets during pole or underground repair work did not pay any additional fees to the city besides the “negligible” $5 per hour administrative cost.

City officials said the fees will come out of the off-duty officers’ hourly rate. An off-duty police officer is hired for approximately $75 per hour, city officials said.