PHOENIX -- Members of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors on Wednesday approved adding a $20 fee to photo-enforcement tickets issued by the Department of Public Safety.

• Special Section: Photo-Enforcement Cameras

Drivers who fail to pay their photo-enforcement tickets and decide to go to court would now face the higher fees.

According to the Board of Supervisors, photo-enforcement ticket cases make up 50 percent of the cases in some jurisdictions.

County officials said the higher fee would help offset increased costs for administering photo enforcement cases.

"The courts don't have many options here," said board spokesman Richard de Uriarte in a news release. "Photo radar now accounts for more court filings than all types of other cases that go before the courts. And currently, the fines that are paid go to the vendor, the state, the Department of Public Safety, but not to the place that is processing these cases, the courts in the counties."

The higher fees would begin in December.