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Board urges council to update police tow, records and miscellaneous fees
Summary
The Board of Safety recommended two resolutions to the town council to update tow and miscellaneous police fees, citing some fees that have not changed in about 20 years and new costs such as body-worn camera video production.
The Schererville Board of Safety voted Sept. 2 to recommend that the Town Council review and update the police department’s fee schedules for towing and miscellaneous records-production costs.
Police Chief Peter Stormont told the board the department has not updated many miscellaneous fees for roughly 20 years and that the towing fees were updated in 2022. "We're reviewing all our fees at the police department, and we've come across several categories that have not been updated in a decade," Stormont said. He asked the board to recommend two resolutions to the council: Resolution 2031 (tow fees) and Resolution 2032 (miscellaneous fees).
Stormont said the proposed tow-release fee would rise from $40 to $50 and that other items — including charges for video production tied to new body-worn camera systems — need revision because older items in the ordinance reference technologies the department no longer uses, such as videotapes.
Board members moved and seconded a recommendation for the council to consider the two resolutions; the motions passed unanimously. The board noted the resolution drafts are presented in ordinance form for council consideration and that final adoption would be the council’s responsibility.
The board did not set final amounts for every line item; Stormont told members the fee adjustments would be calibrated to recover department costs such as officer time at incident scenes, record processing and equipment maintenance.
