CLEVELAND (WJW) – The FOX 8 I-Team has found what you’re paying for with your tax dollars going to a group earning $750 an hour overseeing the Cleveland Police Department.

The first bills have been turned in, and we got our hands on them.

This gives us the first look at what you’re getting with the new cost of keeping watch on Cleveland police.

New members of a federal monitoring group get $750 an hour of your tax money to guide reform in the police department.

The first bills show the head of the group charging a total of more than $5,000 to prepare for a city council meeting and to speak at the meeting.

We also found a lot of other bills marked preparing for meetings, holding meetings and reviewing police department policies.

In a little more than a month, the new members of the group each billed the city for $20,000 to $40,000.

We shared our findings with a recent victim of crime.

“That’s just excessive. That is not reasonable,” she said.

We even saw hotel bills averaging $300 a night to more than $500 a night. That victim wonders why more money isn’t spent on taking back the streets.

We see officers under federal watch, yet the police force keeps shrinking and crime has gone up.

“There’s no improvement to safety,” the victim added. “I would absolutely want to see that money put toward the men and women that are serving and protecting.”

“The $750 rate is outrageous,” Councilman Brian Kazy said.

Kazy has been a watchdog with these bills. For years, the monitoring group has been making $250 an hour. Now, records show five new members getting $750.

“This is just dragging out,” Kazy said. “All we’re doing, we have individuals not from Cleveland telling us what we need to do. They’re feeding at the trough of taxpayers in the City of Cleveland and that’s unacceptable.”

A federal judge oversees this, and Councilman Kazy wants the court to put a time limit on police reforms — a deadline.

The judge won’t talk about a pending case, and the office of the head of the monitoring team has said he can’t comment without permission from everyone involved.

Right now, there’s no end in sight for the police oversight costing you big money.

Even a long-time activist has said the court needs to set a deadline and get the reform finished.