Amherst, N.Y. (WBEN) - In the days during and after the Christmas Weekend blizzard in Buffalo, a number of people were forced to leave and abandon their cars in streets across the city and its surrounding suburbs.
As cleanup efforts were able to commence across the region, many of those stranded and abandoned vehicles were towed and sent elsewhere for residents and others to pick them up again.
While some municipalities cover the towing and storage costs associated with clearing streets of those abandoned vehicles during the storm, other communities like the Town of Amherst do not, which has drawn some ire from residents and others who have been charged for towing expenses as a result of the storm.
"Their vehicle was in a town right-of-way or a state right-of-way, and we needed to move it," said Amherst Town Supervisor, Brian Kulpa of the reasoning behind the charges to drivers who had their cars towed. "We have to call a third-party towing company to move the vehicle. Once that happens, anytime your vehicle is towed out of a right-of-way by a municipality, you have to pay to get your vehicle back. That's how it's always been under every circumstance, and we didn't vary from what always happens."
In Amherst's case, Kulpa says people were only charged for the towing expense and not for anyone who had their vehicles being stored on a location for an extended period of time.
In the cases where municipalities cover the costs of towing and storage when clearing streets of vehicles after, for instance, a snowstorm, they may look to seek disaster aid reimbursement for the costs they incur. However, Kulpa says the Town of Amherst has not been told they could get that reimbursed.
"Right now, my understanding is that general snow removal and cleanup options are not reimbursable expenses at the moment. So no, I'm not willing to tell the town, 'Hey, we've got to pay $48,000 worth of towing charges, because we have to hire private companies to move people's vehicles out of the way,'" Kulpa explained. "Again, at the end of the day, it's your personal vehicle that is stuck or stranded or abandoned, and it's not fair to the people of Amherst to have to pay for somebody from Fairport, Syracuse - wherever these vehicles were coming from - to have to pay those after the fact. If we knew that there was federal reimbursement, yes, we would listen to that, but we have not been told that there's federal reimbursement available."
Kulpa admits the situation at-hand is a "Catch 22", and he certainly wants to be benevolent with everyone affected. However, at the end of the day, he says the town would be left holding the bill for people who drove through a driving ban.
"I've heard stories about companies that ordered their people go to work. I would say go to that employer and say, 'You made me come to work in a driving ban. Here's my bill.' It's just not something the town is gonna say, 'Hey, we're gonna take the cost of your private vehicle and assess that over the value of the town,'" Kulpa said. "If something happens during the towing process, if the vehicle is involved in an accident, we're not going to take on the liability for that. That's up to you to deal with. So there's no reason to vary from past practice on that one.
"There's a lot of room for vary from past practice and a blizzard, and we have to change and we had to adapt our strategies a lot. But this is one where it's simple. You drove, your car got stuck, it got towed, we got it off the road for you so wasn't involved in any more accidents or anything else, but you're responsible for going and picking up the vehicle and paying for getting it towed off the road."
As for those municipalities that have looked for disaster relief funding, Kulpa says it could be months before any of that help comes their way. Given the documentation process that needs to take, it could be 6-12 months before any town or village sees relief. However, he will point out that this process a lot of new territory for leaders like Kulpa.
"They should treat blizzards like they do hurricanes, but that's not how FEMA is currently set up with this declaration. It's hard to say, 'Hey, look, this piece is going to be reimbursed in this timeframe,' because we're just getting to the point where we're trying to document what expenses we have. I can tell you that we had 160 vehicles towed, and it would have cost $48,000. That much I know, that's something that we haven't altered the way we do business in Amherst on that one. There are other things that we have altered, like whether or not we are cutting through some of the snow banks near schools where maybe a private company or private landowner who had to get through it. We knew we needed to open up the intersections near schools for pedestrians, so we're clearing sidewalks that we wouldn't normally clear. That's a life safety issue. Those items we're going to take on, and it's just a matter of varying. Everybody can handle things however they see fit in an emergency. In our case, we have a very systemic way of making sure people get vehicles back. We've done it time-and-time again. Every time we've ever towed vehicles, that's how we do it, and that's what we chose to do here."
