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Commissioners approve changes to county towing ordinance, raising some fees and prioritizing local tow firms
Summary
Waller County approved amendments to the towing ordinance that remove storage permit language, raise renewal and replacement fees, require local presence for contracted towing, and enable a county bid list for evidence and county-vehicle tows.
Waller County Commissioners on Wednesday approved revisions to the county towing ordinance to remove a storage-permit provision, increase certain fees, and set a local preference for contracted towing services.
Lieutenant Lola Bridge, who the court identified as responsible for traffic enforcement, explained that the county removed language about storage permits because inspections and oversight of storage facilities are handled by the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR). “The only changes that we made was the first one was, we took out the storage permit fees… That all comes from TDLR,” Bridge said.
Bridge also told the court she raised several customer-facing fees (renewal, new application, replacement ID/chip fees) from $5 to $10 and that the county must adopt a new, larger identification plate for heavy commercial tow trucks to satisfy federal size requirements. She said manufacturing costs for the redesigned plate are estimated at about $25 per plate. Bridge said the fee increases are intended to cover material and administrative costs.
The revised ordinance also includes a local-preference mechanism: tow companies must have property and pay taxes in Waller County to be on the county’s list. Bridge said the county seeks to avoid nonlocal “fly-by-night” firms and to ensure reasonable response times. The sheriff’s office retains operational discretion for “first available” response at crash scenes to avoid long delays, the court was told.
Commissioners voted to approve the ordinance changes by voice/hand vote with no recorded opposition on the transcript. The amendments, as described in court, will allow the county to issue a county-record tow list and to solicit bids for a standing agreement to cover evidence tows and county-vehicle breakdowns at set fees.
Notes: The transcript records discussion of examples of prior high charges when county vehicles were towed and the practical rationale for the changes; no ordinance text was read verbatim in the public record that was provided to the court during the meeting.
