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Santa Barbara commission approves higher maximum caps for tow and storage fees
Summary
After staff presentations and discussion with tow operators, the Fire and Police Commission approved staff recommendations to raise maximum caps for light-duty towing and vehicle storage to align with CHP and Santa Barbara County Sheriff rates.
The Fire and Police Commission on Jan. 23 voted to accept staff recommendations to raise the city’s maximum caps for towing and vehicle storage fees to better align with neighboring agencies.
Commissioners heard a presentation from Officer Ed Casper, the department’s traffic investigator, who said the city uses six tow companies in an on-call rotation and that all six passed recent yard inspections. Casper said the department had not updated its maximum fee schedule since 2022 and proposed raising the maximum light-duty tow cap by $30 to $360, light-duty storage by $25 to $125 per day, medium storage by $10 to $145 per day, and heavy storage by $10 to $175 per day so Santa Barbara’s caps sit within the range used by the California Highway Patrol (CHP) and the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office.
The commission discussed response-time enforcement and the existing rotation process. Casper said the rotation is per call with dispatch moving down the list; companies must meet 20-minute arrival goals during regular hours and 30 minutes off-hours. Commissioners asked how response times and fee complaints are tracked; staff said they are now tracking response times and that complaints about fees would come to the traffic investigator for follow up.
Commissioners also noted tow operators attended the operator meeting and indicated agreement with bringing city caps into the same range as CHP and the county. After discussion, a motion to accept staff recommendations for the fee changes passed unanimously.
The changes are maximum caps only; tow companies may charge lower, competitive rates and are responsible for posting their rates. Staff said any fee schedule change will be implemented through the commission's annual review and that formal adoption follows the commission’s recommendation process.
The commission’s vote followed a staff request that the tow rotation and fees be reviewed annually each January to keep the fee schedule current.
Details of the fee adjustments and the commission’s motion appear in the staff presentation and the meeting record.
