DOWNEY : City to Allow Appeals of Cart Impound Fees
Grocery stores and other businesses will soon be able to appeal charges that they have previously paid when they retrieve abandoned shopping carts from a city impound yard.
The City Council has decided that store managers should be able to argue their cases before a city administrator if they feel the charges are unfair. The city charges $25 for each basket plus $5 a day for storage. The city sells carts that aren’t claimed within 20 days.
The fees might be waived, for example, if cart owners can show that the city confiscated carts that were on private property, said City Atty. Cheryl J. Kane.
Kane said the ordinance change is designed to protect the city from possible legal action by cart owners.
Downey stopped charging impound fees in July while city staff revised the ordinance to include the new appeals procedure, said City Manager Gerald M. Caton. The fees will be reinstated when the revised law takes effect Dec. 22.
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