LOUISVILLE, Ky. — In Louisville, getting your stolen car out of an impound lot could become a lot easier thanks to a new ordinance, co-sponsored by six Metro Council members.
Currently, if your stolen car ends up at a Louisville Metro Police Department impound lot, after a 21-day grace period, fines will start to pile up.
"Everybody is on a fixed income, where an additional $300 comes in, can really throw a person off kilter," Rick Dulin, who had his Kia stolen in April 2022, said.
Those fines can reach up to hundreds, even thousands of dollars.
"I think that's very scary thought that you can be at the mercy of this impoundment lot," Dulin said.
It's a scary thought for Dulin, after what he went through in the summer of 2022, when someone stole his Kia before police eventually tracked it down and brought it to the impound lot.
"My car was there for several days before I was even notified that the car had been identified," Dulin said. " I theoretically could have been on their clock with the countdown to the 21 days, which I wasn't even aware of."
Dulin says victims of car theft are once again victimized through what he sees as arbitrary fees.
"I think it's really unfortunate. And it's a disservice to the community," he said.
The new ordinance, which Metro Council approved on its consent calendar this week, would remove fees for people whose cars are stolen, so matter the length of time it sits in the impound lot.
The waiving of these fees are only warranted under specific conditions like hospitalization, military leave and other limited circumstances.
It'll also allow people whose requests are denied go through an appeals process.
"I'm happy to see this happening for the city of Louisville, that somebody is taking an initiative to make this happen, but please tweak it," Dulin said. "It's necessary."
Dulin takes issue with the appeals part of the ordinance.
"The complicated factor here is requiring one to pay to pay the money and then file an appeal, and then get the money back from the city, I think is unfortunate. I think it should be a very straightforward product process," Dulin said.
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