CHAMPAIGN – When city police conduct bar checks on or near the University of Illinois, it isn't hard to tell the underage drinkers.

"When you walk in, you get a reaction," Sgt. Scott Friedlein said. "The eyes widen and you get the usual guilty reactions."

"You see them trying to hide the beer," Deputy Police Chief Holly Nearing said.

Underage drinking is a fact of life in most college towns, particularly one like Champaign, where 19- and 20-year-olds can legally enter bars but can't drink alcohol.

But get caught drinking that beer when you're underage and an unpleasant surprise awaits: a $300 city fine.

While it might not seem like much for a city with a $126 million budget, the amount of fine income the city collects from underage drinking fines is still considerable: about $400,000 last year, mostly from the pockets of University of Illinois undergraduates.

That's nearly 10 times the $46,000 the police department has budgeted this year for alcohol enforcement.

But city officials say that sum is mainly used for overtime for special alcohol enforcement details, and that does not take into account all the regular time spent by police and the city's attorney's office on alcohol-related issues and enforcement.

"Law enforcement is never a money-making proposition. Period," Champaign City Attorney Fred Stavins said.

Records kept by Stavins' office show that 1,509 youths got tickets in 2007 for underage drinking, though he said about 10 percent of those were dismissed or withdrawn by the city.

Records show that 1,313 offenders paid their tickets within 21 days by mail or in person at the city attorney's office without going to court. Another 57 people age 21 or older who were cited for delivering alcohol to a minor or hosting a party where underage drinking occurred also opted to pay that fine, now $300. That adds up to about $400,000 in income and does not include amounts the city won in cases that were contested in court. Those figures were not immediately available.

Fines for both underage drinking and delivering alcohol to a minor were $290 through June 30, then raised to $300 starting July 1.

Most of the alcohol enforcement budget goes to pay overtime for officers who conduct bar checks and related activities, including compliance checks, where bars are tested to see if they will sell alcohol to a covert underage customer; street sweeps, where police check house parties and outdoor areas near bars for open alcohol and underage drinking; city training for bar employees on how to prevent underage drinking; and a Cops In Shops program, where police work in package liquor stores and check for fake IDs and for youths asking adults to buy them alcohol.

Friedlein said the city conducts about 18 to 20 bar checks annually, with about seven or eight bars checked in each outing. The bar checks are major operations involving eight to 10 police officers, but the city expense is minimized because of state assistance.

Six of the officers in the bar checks are state troopers, paid through state grant funds. Two to four officers are from Champaign, Friedlein said. Occasionally, a University of Illinois or Secretary of State officer is involved.

Bar walk-throughs, where police are usually in plain clothes, typically result in 20 to 50 underage drinking tickets being written each night. Friedlein said police try to target heavy drinking days, such as near the end of finals or the first week of a UI semester.

Uniformed officers who serve in the district that encompasses Campustown will also sometimes do a walk-through if a particular bar is having problems, like fights, Nearing said. Sometimes those visits will result in underage drinking tickets, she said.

The city's most notorious drinking holiday, "Unofficial St. Patrick's Day," draws special police attention. Last year, city police issued 176 tickets, including 119 for underage drinking and 22 for open alcohol possession on public property, on "Unofficial," according to Nearing.

Stavins, the city attorney, said it would be wrong to assume the city is profiting from underage drinking. He said an assistant city attorney in his office spends 50 percent to 60 percent of her time on alcohol-related prosecutions, and that his clerical and paralegal staff also devote considerable time.

And investigating alcohol-related crimes and offenses is a major part of police work, he said.

"The link between alcohol consumption and safety on campus is well- documented," Stavins said.

City Finance Director Richard Schnuer also said law enforcement costs related to alcohol "far exceed the income." Police officers are not cheap, he noted. Each police officer – the city has 125 authorized police positions – costs $103,000 annually in salary, benefits and pension costs.

The police department has a budget of nearly $15 million this year, and pension costs are another $3.3 million.

Police Chief R.T. Finney said police don't enforce the law on a cost basis.

"Some laws cost us more to enforce," he said. "In some cases, fine money makes up some of the costs."

Finney said his major concern is whether the city is doing enough to prevent underage drinking.

"The question is, is it enough or too little?" he said. "We're constantly asking ourselves that. It's like speeding: How many people do you ticket to get compliance, or close to compliance?"

One positive sign, he said, is that the city is getting 93 percent compliance in cases where a covert underage youth monitored by police attempts to purchase alcohol at a bar.

In general, campus bars don't generate huge taxes for the city, Schnuer said. For 2007, the 13 Class A bars in Campustown generated $46,000 in food and beverage taxes for the city and $207,000 in sales taxes, he said. Annual sales for those bars was $9.2 million.

"That's not a big portion of our revenue base," Schnuer said. "Yes, some of them are big and can hold a lot of customers, but if it's a buck beer, and you compare that to an entree at a sit-down restaurant where you're spending $10 to $20, you have to pour a lot of beer."