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A simmering staple of City Hall controversy may finally be headed for retirement, although perhaps only temporarily.

With the clock nudging toward 11:30 p.m. Monday, the City Council passed an omnibus package of changes to the red-light camera program, though not a reduction in the fine for a first offense.

The vote caps a marathon ordeal that included a fight with the Legislature over the amount of the fines and who gets to collect them, a contentious public hearing in March and countless hours of back-and-forth meetings.

But after the council voted Monday to set the fines at $100, $200 and $300 for the first, second and third and subsequent offenses, respectively, Councilor Isaac Benton spoke with a sense of finality.

"I think it does it for a while," he said. "I think we've left enough of a deterrent."

Added Council President Debbie O'Malley: "I think we've done pretty much everything we can."

The final vote was 8-1, with Councilor Brad Winter dissenting.

Mayor Martin Chavez said earlier he preferred no changes in the program, especially changes to reduce the fee structure substantially. The vote Monday was by a veto-proof majority.

Despite proposals to lower the first-offense fine to as little as a warning, councilors instead kept it at $100, but cut by $50 the second fine within two years, and reduced the third and subsequent fines by $200.

Most offenders don't get past the first offense, city records show. The program has issued more than 40,000 tickets in the last two years, and fewer than 100 were for a third offense.

The bill also comes with minor technical changes. Offenders can now work off their fines with community service, with $10 knocked off for every hour put in. And people will now have 35 days to pay instead of 20.

A proposal by Councilor Ken Sanchez to place a moratorium on new cameras was not considered Monday. The city administration has said, however, that it has no plans to install cameras at more intersections.

Red-light camera issues are likely to crop up, again, before too long, especially when the program ceases to pay for itself.

Now, the fines pay for the administration of the cameras, a task contracted out to the Arizona firm Red Flex. The company takes a cut from each ticket and also charges the city a fixed monthly rental fee for the cameras.

If Albuquerque follows the lead of other cities, Police Chief Ray Schultz said, the cameras will become such a deterrent that the number of tickets issued will trend downward until they are not enough to support that fixed rental payment.

At that point, the city would have to jack up the fines or find some other way to pay, if it wants to keep the cameras.

How long will that take? Usually about three years, Schultz says. The 20 intersections came online at different times during the last two years, so just when the city reaches that threshold is anybody's guess.

"It could be quicker; it could be longer," Schultz said.