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Rancho Mirage council adopts amended vehicle impound fee, adds DUI impound recovery charge
Summary
The Rancho Mirage City Council voted 4-0 to amend its vehicle impound cost recovery fee and to add a separate DUI impound cost-recovery charge; staff said the existing fee set in 2010 no longer covers actual costs and recommended annual adjustments tied to the sheriff's contract.
Rancho Mirage — The City Council on Sept. 4 adopted a resolution amending the city’s vehicle impound cost-recovery fee and establishing a separate DUI impound recovery charge, voting 4-0 to approve the measure after a staff presentation and one public comment.
“The Vicker fee for the city of Rancho Mirage was first established in 2001 at $75 and then raised once in 2010 to a $145. It has not been updated in over 15 years,” Tyler Folkes, senior management analyst, told the council during the public hearing. Folkes said the proposed two-tier structure and the new DUI fee are based on sheriff contract rates and actual staff time and that the resolution authorizes annual adjustments tied to future sheriff contract increases.
A member of the public, Brad Anderson, opposed the proposal, saying he was concerned about the scale of DUI-related costs and asking the council to retain oversight over any automatic annual increases. “I’m opposed to this mainly because of the extreme costs related to the DUI and other intrusion policy,” Anderson said during public comment.
Mayor Weil, responding during council remarks, said the simplest way to avoid impound costs is to avoid impaired driving. A council member moved to adopt the resolution and the motion carried 4-0. The resolution was identified in the staff report as ‘resolution number 20 25 next in order’; the staff report states the fee adjustments are intended to ensure the city recovers administrative costs without generating revenue beyond actual expenses.
Why it matters: Impound fees are intended to reimburse the city for administrative costs tied to impounds — deputy time, paperwork and tow coordination — rather than to raise net revenue. Tying adjustments to the sheriff’s contract is intended to keep the fee aligned with actual costs without requiring repeated council action, but at least one speaker urged the council to preserve oversight.
Next steps: The resolution authorizes annual adjustments tied to the sheriff’s contract rate increases; the staff report does not list an effective date in the oral presentation and no further schedule was announced at the meeting.
