The tale of the young mayor, the Homeland Security Yukon, and the Toby Keith concert apparently ended yesterday with Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl's signature on a $145.50 personal check to the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Mr. Ravenstahl sent his check to the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency with a note from Pittsburgh Public Safety Director Michael Huss saying it should cover "any costs associated with the improper use" of the vehicle. PEMA will pass it on to its federal counterpart, the agency based in the federal Department of Homeland Security that made the grant that covered the purchase of the GMC Yukon.

The federal agency had asked state officials to review the mayor's use of the Police Bureau Yukon after the Post-Gazette reported that police Sgt. Mona Wallace protested the mayor's use of the vehicle to travel to a Toby Keith concert.

Police leadership threatened her with a reprimand, only to have that disciplinary action report withdrawn by Mr. Huss and the mayor's use of the Yukon halted.

The state agency, which will pass on the check to the federal government, wrote a Feb. 25 letter to Mr. Huss accepting his estimate that the vehicle was driven 300 miles "outside of its intended purpose," and finding the value of that use to be "de minimis." However, in response to the administration's desire to make repayment, the agency used the federal reimbursement rate of 48.5 cents a mile to calculate the value.

PEMA Director Robert P. French also endorsed new policies put in place by Mr. Huss to prevent further problems.

Mr. Huss said yesterday that vehicles bought through the federal Buffer Zone Protection Program "need to be used for surveillance at certain sites in the city, only."

There is now a strict rule that grant-funded vehicles be used only for the purposes outlined in the grant. And the Police Bureau now keeps logs chronicling the use of those vehicles, which are matched up against odometer readings quarterly.

"The situation has been corrected," he said.

Mr. Ravenstahl said in October that he rode in the vehicle when his city-issued Chevy Impala was in the shop, and when he went with a contingent to Harrisburg, which is a 200-mile trip each way.

Mr. Huss said only that his estimate that the mayor's improper use of the vehicle came to 300 miles came from the Police Bureau.