'Cost of Committing Crime' in Falls is Going Up

Chief Tom Pozza has found a small way to make a big change in his department’s budget: tacking a $50 administrative fee onto the cost of claiming vehicles towed and impounded by police authority.

Pozza told during a presentation Monday that had the fee been in place since Jan. 1, it would have already generated $39,000 that could be used to fund police training and equipment purchases.

Council members agreed to vote next Monday on amending a section of the city’s codified ordinances that relates to impounded vehicles to include the new $50 police administrative fee.

Pozza told council he’s following the lead of the Norton Police Department, which started imposing its $50 administrative towing/impound fee on Jan. 10.

Norton Chief Thad Hete told Pozza there has been "no pushback" in his city related to the fee and that the figure may be increased to $75 in the coming year.

“Norton enacted it this past January and they’ve already garnered $16,000 in their small community,” Pozza said.

That means Norton police have had 320 vehicles towed and impounded during the past 11 months. In that same time span, Cuyahoga Falls officers have had 780 vehicles towed and impounded.

Pozza said the fee is justified because officers and dispatchers spend a good deal of time arranging for tows, waiting for tow trucks to arrive and doing the associated paperwork. And, he added, the majority of the fees will be paid by “criminals.”

“The people that will pay this fee are the ones whose cars we tow for driving without a license, drunk driving, driving under suspension, and (motorist) arrests such as for warrants or other criminal offenses. That’s just another cost of committing crime in Cuyahoga Falls,” Pozza explained.

The fee will be collected by B&B Auto Service & Towing at the time people reclaim their vehicles from the company’s 3901 State Road impound lot. B&B – which the city contracts with for all police-initiated towing and impound work – will turn the collected fees over to the police department.

B&B owner Bernie Mason said current towing costs are $125 and $150, depending on whether it’s a typical tow or one that requires a flatbed. The impound storage fee is $12 per 24-hour period.

Pozza said he’s so impressed with the revenue-generating idea that he has shared it with several other area police chiefs.

“We’ve spread the word,” he said. “This is the up-and-coming way for police departments to augment their budget a little bit and put that money toward training and equipment.”

Pozza hopes to have the fee in place yet this year.