The Bloomington City Council approved an increase of city-initiated towing service fees Wednesday night.
City-initiated towing is towing requested by police or parking enforcement officers. The base fee of $55 for towing a vehicle during the day and $65 for night towing will both increase to $125. This is the first change in Bloomington’s towing fees in 18 years.
Ken Parrish, owner of Ken’s Westside Service and Towing, said his employees receive about 30 percent of the fee to tow a vehicle as their pay.
“To give a decent wage to these workers now, these rates have got to go up,” Parrish said at a March 6 council meeting.
Surrounding jurisdictions such as IU, Monroe County and Ellettsville already have $125 base fees. Parrish said the increase is only to bring the fee up to the local standard.
“Really in many ways, this is just a housekeeping provision,” city attorney Mike Rouker said Wednesday night.
Parrish has been in the towing business since he was 18, and he took over his father’s towing company seven years ago. He said since the towing fee was last updated by the city in 2001, the cost for his company to buy a new tow truck has gone up more than $60,000.
Tow truck drivers are now encouraged to participate in first responder training, Parrish said, and this means towing companies must follow higher standards.
Equipment such as workers’ reflective uniforms must now meet the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s standards Parrish said, gesturing to his own navy blue jumpsuit with stripes of reflective neon yellow coating. This costs them money but also keeps workers safer.
“All of this comes out of our pocket to make drivers more visible,” he said.
Parrish said tow truck drivers are among the many first responders killed from passing vehicles every year.
The city partners with Parrish’s business and three other local towing businesses to fulfill towing needs, which range from towing cars parked in no-parking zones to towing cars when drivers are incapacitated. All four companies do not participate in private towing, Parish and Rouker said.
“Ultimately, our goal is to be safe and offer a proper service to everyone in our community at a fair rate,” Parrish said.
The ordinance will also increase the storage fee per day from $10 for an undamaged vehicle and $15 for wrecked vehicles to $25 for both wrecked and undamaged vehicles. It will also remove the fee for picking up vehicles at night.
