Some fees charged by State College Borough-licensed towing companies appear headed for an increase.
Borough Council on Monday approved having staff draft an amendment to the private/public towing ordinance with increases for seven fees. The proposed changes came at the request of the companies and after discussion with borough staff, Assistant Borough Manager Tom King said.
If the ordinance amendment is approved by council, the changes for towing from streets and public property would include:
– Non-accident towing (less than 3/4 ton vehicle weight), from $150 to $175
– Non-accident towing (larger than 3/4 ton but not exceeding 11,000 pounds, or with dual rear wheels), from $155 to $175
– Accident/crash towing base rate, from $250 to $300
– Winching, from $85 to $100
– Drop fee, from $90 to $100
– Overnight release fee, from $50 to $75
– Storage fee after 24 hours, from $40 to $45.
Police Chief John Gardner said representatives of the towing companies have met with borough staff over the past several months and provided comparisons to rates regionally and across the state. The proposed increases, he said, are ‘perfectly in line’ with rates elsewhere.
‘They also continue to tell us, and I don’t think it’s any big secret, that their operating costs continue to go up with insurance and replacement of equipment and wages and raises they have to do,’ Gardner said. ‘I think based on that, they came in with some fees in some of these categories that were a little higher.
‘We went back and forth and negotiated and we got to a point where we feel what is now recommended here to council are fair and equitable across the board. We would urge council to pass this adapted fee schedule.’
Council President Evan Myers said the rates are mostly 10 to 20 percent increases, which is ‘quite a bit more’ than inflation since a larger schedule of towing fees was last increased in September 2017. He also noted the overnight release fee is a 50 percent increase.
Cathy Tennis, of John Tennis Towing, said the companies did not seek an increase in all the fees outlined in the ordinance for licensed towers, but for areas that have more administrative costs.
‘The reason for the overnight fee is because it is such an odd, different thing than you deal with all day long,’ Tennis said. ‘Between midnight and 6 a.m. the people who want to pick their cars up, 90 percent of the time they are not themselves, they’ve been out partying, whatever. It’s a bigger concern for the company.
‘Basically we’re actually looking for more of a deterrent where you don’t have one employee there at risk of there being a problem with somebody who just wants to fight and argue. To be honest with you that release fee is less than probably 1 percent of any towing that gets done. If they don’t pick the car up that night, the fee does not increase the next day, because the first 24 hours there is no storage fees.’
Myers added that in considering the increases are only for a few of the fees associated with towing overall they are ‘considerably less than’ 10 to 20 percent.
When the fees were last increased in 2017, those proposed to increase again this year rose by about 10 to 20 percent from their previous number set in 2014.
Public and private towing of vehicles within the borough is regulated by ordinance. King said that a license is required ‘for any towing company engaged in the business of towing vehicles at the request of the borough from highways, public rights-of-way or other public property in the borough.’
King said that, separately, he and Borough Manager Tom Fountaine, plan to bring to council in the near future a proposal to address issues with towing companies that give parking tickets on private property.
‘We do continue to have some real challenges with that practice,’ King said.
