The City Council's proposed increase in the fees towing companies...

The City Council's proposed increase in the fees towing companies can charge would have been a welcome change for Kenny Uihlein, owner of Ray's Towing Service in Sea Cliff. The maximum rates the city allows Uihlein to charge have stayed flat for many years despite rising insurance costs, he said. Credit: Danielle Finkelstein

The Glen Cove City Council is scheduled to hold public hearings Tuesday night on proposals to significantly increase fees for some licenses and services.

Mayor Reginald Spinello said some of the fee hikes are long overdue.

“We’re reviewing our prices and we’re trying to get up to date on some of them,” he said. “Most of them haven’t been touched in over 10 years.”

A vote on the proposed fee hikes is scheduled for after the public hearings.

The council had been scheduled to also vote on increasing the fees charged by private towing companies. But Spinello pulled that increase off Tuesday’s agenda so that city officials could more thoroughly survey other municipalities’ towing charges, city spokeswoman Lisa Travatello said Monday afternoon. The towing-fee increases would have been the largest of the proposed increases.

Kenny Uihlein, owner of Ray’s Towing Service in Sea Cliff, one of the five companies authorized to tow vehicles in Glen Cove, said the maximum amounts the city allows him to charge have remained the same for many years as insurance and other costs have risen.

“Everything has gone up, but the towing rates haven’t,” Uihlein said.

Among the revised city fees council members are scheduled to review are those for ice-cream truck operators and other operations considered peddlers or solicitors.

Those annual fees would increase from $50 to $75 for a person or company, and from $75 to $100 for each vehicle. The per-person cost in Oyster Bay, Hempstead and North Hempstead is $50. Annual vehicle charges are $50 in North Hempstead and $25 in Oyster Bay and Hempstead for vehicles weighing up to 5,000 pounds, increasing $25 per additional 1,000 pounds, up to a maximum of $100 in Hempstead.

The annual license fee in Glen Cove for one taxi would go from $250 to $300, and from $50 to $75 for an additional taxi. Oyster Bay and Hempstead charge $500 for the first year of a taxi license, dropping to $75 to $100 for renewals.

Under the proposed towing fee increase that was taken off the agenda, the amount a company could charge to tow a vehicle would have risen from $75 for the first mile or fraction of a mile to $150. The charge for each additional mile also would have doubled, to $10 from $5.

The largest percentage increase would have been the maximum charge for the use of dollies or a flatbed truck when taking away a damaged vehicle. That cost would have risen to $100 from $20.

Most of the proposed towing charges would have been higher than those in the neighboring Town of Oyster Bay and in the towns of Hempstead and North Hempstead. Hempstead caps towing charges for the first mile or fraction of a mile at $60. That fee is $95 in Oyster Bay and $125 in North Hempstead.

The charge in Oyster Bay and Hempstead for the use of special skills — such as righting an overturned vehicle — is $35 per half-hour, compared with $50 in North Hempstead and the $100 that had been proposed for Glen Cove.

The council is to hold public hearings on several other measures, including on whether to require permits to moor boats and whether to bar most overnight parking on Garvies Point Road, a prohibition a previous council intended to impose but which is unenforceable because the law’s language is unclear, Deputy Police Chief Christopher Ortiz said.

HEARING ON FEE HIKE

The Glen Cove City Council is scheduled to hold public hearings Tuesday night to increase several city fees:

* An auctioneer license, from $100 to $150.

* Filing an accident report in person, from $10 to $15.

* Filing an accident report by mail, from $15 to $20.

* Peddling or soliciting, from $50 to $75 per person or company, and from $75 to $100 per vehicle.

Ronnie Tanner, a horse jockey in the '60s and '70s, and Kendrick Carmouche, a current jockey, spoke about the racism Black jockeys have faced. NewsdayTV's Jamie Stuart reports. Credit: Ed Murray, Jonathan Singh

'I had to keep my mouth shut'  Ronnie Tanner, a horse jockey in the '60s and '70s, and Kendrick Carmouche, a current jockey, spoke about the racism Black jockeys have faced. NewsdayTV's Jamie Stuart reports.

Ronnie Tanner, a horse jockey in the '60s and '70s, and Kendrick Carmouche, a current jockey, spoke about the racism Black jockeys have faced. NewsdayTV's Jamie Stuart reports. Credit: Ed Murray, Jonathan Singh

'I had to keep my mouth shut'  Ronnie Tanner, a horse jockey in the '60s and '70s, and Kendrick Carmouche, a current jockey, spoke about the racism Black jockeys have faced. NewsdayTV's Jamie Stuart reports.

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