Village trustees in Walden have been discussing a new tow fee policy to hopefully encourage residents to park in all the right places. Though most trustees are on board with having a new policy, some showed concerns.

The tow fee would be $7 per mile plus a pickup fee that starts at $100 depending on the time of day your car is being picked up. Village Manager John Revella mentioned that it’s similar to the Thruway’s tow policy, which he claims is probably the “lowest standard rate.” These two fees don’t include other fees like winching or storage. Revella explained that winching comes in if there’s, for example, a tractor trailer down an embankment in a river and they have to get it out with a winch over the course of a couple hours.

Revella explained that they currently are having a rough time getting tow trucks to come to the village. “Nobody’s coming. That’s the problem. We have no tow truck coming and we’re trying to get the tow trucks here by making it at least comparable,” said Revella.

This policy would also act as a maximum standard fee for local tow companies, but not a minimum. “They [tow truck companies] have to be permitted through us [the village]. They can’t just come as a tow company whenever they want. They have to go through and get a permit from the village to be able to tow here,” said Revella, “This is so the tow companies don’t overcharge people. This is the standard fee and they can charge less, [but] they can’t charge more than the maximum allowed by the tow companies that tow in the village. Otherwise, they can’t come here.”

Trustee Lynn Thompson asked for transparency with residents. “I feel very strongly that we let our residents know that it’s a pretty hefty fee,” said Thompson, who mentioned putting it in a notice or on their calender.

Deputy Mayor Willie Carley felt that the fees were quite expensive. “It’s just a lot to me,” Carley mentioned. On the other hand, most board members saw it as an incentive to get people to park correctly.

“When they get their first tow bill they sure as heck won’t park on the road during the snowstorms,” said Trustee Brian Sebring.

Mayor John Ramos brought up issues with bigger vehicles. “You opened up the door about tractor trailers. How are you going to justify a company coming in here with a rotator to pull a tractor trailer out at $50 a half hour?” asked Ramos, who added that rotators cost anywhere from $500 to $1000 to get to the site.

Sebring mentioned adding a line to the policy that says “Anything over X amount of weight, you get the bigger tow trucks, [which] is going to be more expensive.”

Ultimately they decided to keep the winching fee the same for vehicles 10,000 pounds or under, however, it would be up to the tow company for anything over.

“The winching would be for any vehicle 10,000 pounds or under. Anything over 10,000 would be determined by the company,” said Revella.

Revella received the motion to make that change. No policy has officially been passed yet.