Saturday, March 29, 2008

ROTATION TOWING RATES RISING

During the last Finance Committee meeting at City Hall, Wednesday, March 19th, the Councilmen, Department Heads and representatives of the participating towing companies came to an agreement on a rate increase for City summoned towing services.

The City of Kingston doesn’t have its own towing service so we utilize several local operators to remove disabled or seized vehicles. These companies are on a rotation call-in list and are in full compliance with the City and State regulations required.

The rate for storage at the operator’s place of business was the key motivator. At $8 per day, the temptation to let it sit for weeks causes a work space problem on site.
The rate for storage will now be $35 per day, so car and truck owners are warned that the bill will be staggering if you procrastinate.

Fees for all forms of towing will see a hike as well…daytime car tows from $65 to $100 and night towing from $85 to $150. This will put Kingston in the same fee schedule as Ulster.

Here is the killer issue: ABANDONMENT. People sometimes abandon their car. It takes a month to file the paperwork to render a vehicle junk and get $100 out of it at the crusher. The next logical step is to attach the fees accrued by the operator to the owner of the vehicle, rendering him/her liable.
Everyone has a Social Security Number, right? Make it impossible to get a job, rent an apartment or another car with a judgment against your Social Security Number.

In this throw-away society, we see an ever increasing trend in a lack of responsibility and the burden is usually on the taxpayer. I will work with Law Enforcement and Corporation Council to see what is available to the Council as a means to fix this problem.

And thank you Tim Halpern for keeping this issue alive.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Make sure that Senor and Sottile know about the raise in rates. Maybe they wont look for towing favors anymore.

Anonymous said...

did tim halpern from tims auto on broadway keep his cloths on in city hall, or did he take his cloths off like he did the night of his arrest on rt 9-w in the town of esopus, when he was fighting with his girlfriend. tim is a dishonest business person. you will see for yourslf soon

Mike Madsen said...

Tim did keep his clothes on. He is only one of ten towing companies affected by the rotation rates that the City regulates.

His past transgressions are no concern of mine and this issue will help the towing companies deal with the bottom feeders who leave their cars for others to deal with.

Ill keep you posted on our findings. Thank you.

Anonymous said...

This is a fee set by the Council for Towing companies on the list only?
So they set their own prices for towing when you call them privately?

Is there a restriction on which company the police can call for towing services? I had no idea.

Anonymous said...

befor somebody tries to coment on a issue they should have all the facts,before the stick their foot into their big mouth.YOU who spends more time to propergate a negitive image of others thats why your stuck in the anonymous spot of life tring to fit in somewhere on someone elses sucseses.you should spend a little more time tring to do the right thing instead of tring to hurt some one.that will never happen.the next time you open your big mouth ask yourself what i did with the taxpayer money i recieved from a false arrest,o yea are you a tax payer,maybe not.if you were you should do your self a favor and try to do some good instead of not.ive done more good,even though i may be boisterous and it must be working,because it got you to open your big mouth,now thats positive change,because if it hurts you to see someone like my self changing the way others take advantage of others,like you are tring to take advantage of a situation that has nothing to do with the proposed resolution on the table,unless it is affecting YOU directly.then i cant have the councle pass the law fast enough,ill continue to fight for what i believe in no matter if it draws attention or not ,and it must be working because its actully geting results.what have you acomplished latley.Check your facts before you insert foot, you abviously dont know me personally or profesionally,otherwise you would know what i stand for. thats why you have no purpose behind your statement thank you mike for alowing me to answering the anonymous post i will see you at the next councel meeting ,working for a beter kingston for ALL Tims Auto (Honest Repairs For Less)

Mike Madsen said...

Tim, pace yourself when writing a response. I posted it even though it seemed like a run-on sentence from hell.

Your coments on Monday's show got the proposal tabled by Bob Senor and I couldnt stop it.

Caps, spacing and punctuation gets proper attention. See you at the next L & R meeting.

Anonymous said...

As a result of googling Tim Halpern's name, I came to this webpage. AFter reading the comments here, I can see that my experience with Mr Halpern is not so uncommon. While visiting your fine town, and sightseeing, shopping, etc, I found myself in front of what I have since found out to be Mr Halpern's house, waiting to cross the street to eat at the restaurant across from his house. Mr Halpern came barreling down his sidewalk, and accosted me and my husband, as we stood on the sidewalk in front of his house, which he informed me was his driveway, not a public sidewalk. Screaming obscenities and accusing us of stealing from his front yard (?), I felt fearful of this man, not knowing who he was or what he was capable of. For a town that very apparently is void of industry, and looks to taxation and tourism for it's revenue, I would, as a resident and business owner in the area, be very concerned of Mr Halpern's past transgressions and his ongoing ones, as well. Chasing off prospective tourists, who will shop in your stores and eat at your restaurants, tell their family and friends of their experiences in your town, would very much concern me, if I were dependent on tourism. Imagine my surprise to find out this person is a business owner himself! Upon speaking with others in town, telling them the situation I encountered with Mr Halpern, I did find that this was not an unusual situation, and quite possibly he has connections in higher places, as law enforcement does not seem to care of his harassment of passersby nor of his fellow townsfolk. Very scary indeed.

Anonymous said...

Does this guy tow for the city? Why keep a questionable charactor on the tow list to cause this great city possible problems. Seems like a loose cannon. Does he do favors for those responsible for city tows? Boy I hope not. Just glad he doesnt live in my neighborhood although he wouldnt be there long. I know my neighbors wouldnt put up with his pompus attitude. Who does he think he is and why do people put up with him. Are the police frightened of him? Must be to continue to put up with him.