BLOOMSBURG — In 2022, Kathy Arner and a dozen other people leaving a church concert downtown found their cars had been immobilized by a device attached to tires.

Town officials have since heard other complaints from visitors like Arner who had to pay steep fees after their cars were “booted” — not by police but by companies that enforce parking rules on private properties.

Because removing the mechanical boot from a car’s tire can cost hundreds of dollars, Bloomsburg’s elected officials are wondering if they have the legal authority to cap fees charged by private contractors.

But Eric Bower, a former Bloomsburg mayor who runs one such company, says the un-booting fees he charges are in line with the industry, and a necessary cost of doing the job for which he’s hired by property owners.

The police chief and Town Council members say they’ve heard from angry visitors who thought they had found a good parking space, only to discover it was in a private lot.

Council members say there are reports of motorists being made to pay as much as $400 to be freed of a boot. So they’ve asked the town’s attorney to see if the town has the legal right to regulate un-booting fees charged by companies.

Choir concert costly

Councilwoman Bonnie Crawford says people who attended the concert by the Jubilate Choir at St. Matthew Lutheran Church on that Sunday were upset.

“I got a call that some of the patrons had parked by the old schoolhouse and walked from there,” Crawford recalls. “They came back and their car was booted and they had to pay a couple hundred dollars.”

The price to remove the boot was $150, she says. That’s the same fee the town charges to remove boots placed on the vehicles of people who have accumulated at least three unpaid parking tickets.

“The caller asked if it was legal and what the town could do,” she says.

‘I was so upset’

Arner, 71, Millville, said she has long attended Jubilate Choir performances — and always parked a block away in a lot at First and Center streets, owned by the Schoolhouse Apartments.

Arner recalls she and about a dozen other drivers returned to their cars to leave, but found themselves stuck.

“We all had these big things on our tires,” she says. “I was so upset because we have always parked in that parking lot.”

Arner says they called police, who arrived and contacted the company that installed the boots.

She had hoped the company would forgive the fine for churchgoers, who had long used the lot. Instead, their attention was directed to multiple signs warning against parking there.

“Before we were able to leave we had to pay the fine. They would not take it off until we all paid,” Arner says. “We were all probably at fault, none of us read them, but on Sundays you usually didn’t have to worry about paying.”

Arner says until she got the boot she had never received so much as a parking ticket. The $150 fine left her feeling sour about parking in Bloomsburg for more than a year, she says.

“Out of anger I did not attend the concert in 2023,” she says. But last year she returned and parked in the Pine Avenue lot, three blocks from the Market Street church.

“I came out and had no ticket so I was happy,” Arner says.

‘Hostage’

Although Crawford raised the issue at a town meeting after hearing from the upset concertgoers, she suspects there’s little the town can do to control fees.

“Does the town want to get into regulating private businesses?” Crawford says she’s asked herself. During that 2022 meeting, she suggested the town might be able to require the owners of private lots to disclose towing and parking fees on signs.

Mayor Justin Hummel said a cap on fees would be like a government entity placing a limit on what his restaurant, Brewskis, can charge for a beverage or meal.

He did note state courts restrict what the town can charge for parking fines.

“We should at least look into it,” he said of a fee cap. “I am not sure legislatively we are going to be able to do anything about it, but I would at least like to find out.”  

During a Community and Economic Development meeting March 25, Hummel said that while there are state laws regulating towing companies, there’s nothing on the books to address immobilization devices. He likened steep fees to “extortion,” and said Solicitor Matt Turowski is researching if they can be capped within town limits.

“Removing someone’s property is very different from essentially holding it hostage,” the mayor said.

State laws address towing, not stuck cars

Police Chief Scott Price says it was he who suggested the town determine if it could legally regulate un-booting fees. He notes he’s taken calls from people forced to pay $200 or more.

“The police get a lot of calls from college students and their parents saying the fees to remove them are exorbitant,” the chief said.

State vehicle law clearly gives property owners the right to tow unwanted cars off their properties, Price says, but the law is silent on boots

When a car is towed, the law says companies can charge “reasonable rates,”  the chief said. But it does not define “reasonable.”

Private enterprise

Eric Bower, a former town councilman and mayor, owns AAT Parking, a company he says is used by about 10 property owners to monitor private lots.

Bower and two part-time employees watch those lots — mostly student housing — by driving by and checking for parking passes or putting boots on tires after the owners report the presence of unwanted cars.

He said his company installs a couple of boots a week, maybe 100 a year. Some days are better for business, Bower says, like homecoming or the upcoming Block Party and Renaissance weekend April 26.

He says his company does not charge property owners when boots are installed; the entire cost must be paid by the driver.

His rates start at $150; they increase only if someone leaves a car for days or it has to be towed. Other companies operate in town as well, Bower says. “The cost varies depending on who is doing it.”

Workers must be paid for their time and mileage, he explains. The boots themselves can cost anywhere from $200 to $800. They are sometimes damaged by motorists who try to take matters into their own hands.

“In order to cover our costs we have to charge,” Bower says. His rates, he adds, are similar to those charged by towing companies, which often levy additional daily impound fees.

‘Different outcome’

As for the elderly couple that Crawford said was charged $150, Bower says he is responsible for enforcing parking rules established by landlords — not for knowing where a car’s driver has gone in town.

“It might have been a concert, but we don’t know that,” he says. “We get complaints from the landlords and we do our job.”

Bower says some property owners have notified him to ease up on monitoring parking because they gave permission for their lot to be used for nearby community events.

“If the church had reached out, there may have been a different outcome,” he says of the concert at St. Matthew.

Crawford hopes event organizers can collaborate with their neighbors so folks can park without worrying about paying unexpected fees.

She wants student landlords to consider leniency in the summer or during winter break when their tenants are not in town.

Bower says his company has given breaks on the fees for wayward visitors. He says he has worked with Renaissance Jamboree organizers so vendors setting up stands don’t get booted.

‘Deal with it, move on’

Bower said most people who find boots on their cars pay the fee without getting upset.

“They just want to go to work so they deal with it and move on,” Bower says.

Landlords have hired his company because parking is a problem in town, he says. Most of the lots he monitors are at student housing complexes, and most cars that get booted are owned by non-residents or guests of tenants.

“Would you park in your neighbor's driveway without permission? It’s the same thing,” he says.

At the Old School House Apartments, 50 E. First St., people park to shop on Main Street or conduct business at the courthouse, he says. Like all the lots he supervises, it sports plenty of signs notifying people the lot is private and monitored.

“We are consistent in what we do and it is all based on what the property owner wants,” Bower says. “The other option is to just tow everybody. I feel that is more intrusive and inconvenient.”

Bower says booting cars assures tenants or workers they will be able to park, while sending a message the lot where they park is safe. It cuts down on crime because drug dealers are less likely to stop in private lots, he adds.

Until a landlord asked him about providing private parking enforcement in 2016, Bower says he didn’t know there was a market in Bloomsburg for that service.

“If we did not have a parking problem in town, this would not be needed,” he says.

M.J. Mahon covers Bloomsburg; she can be reached at 570-218-7536 or mj.mahon@pressenterprise.net.