Kleberg County Commissioners approved the regulation of towing fees in its jurisdiction during a meeting this past Monday.

“There are several different fees depending on the vehicle and the situation,” County Judge Pete de la Garza said.

The judge said complaints about a Corpus Christi towing business that was charging high prices at the Padre Island National Seashore, which is in Kleberg County, prompted commissioners to get the ball rolling.

“What kicked off the whole thing was some guy who was charging an exorbitant amount of money and people were getting really upset,” De la Garza said. “The county has the right to set those towing fees and that is exactly what we did.”

De la Garza first requested Kleberg’s towing companies to attend a get-together.

“We had a meeting a couple of months back and there was a lot of interest in it from people who represented the different towing companies in Kingsville and the surrounding area,” De la Garza said.

“It was hard to come to an accord because they each knew their own fees, and we (commissioners court) did not. I told the companies to help us out by working out a schedule that we all could live with.”

At the same time, De la Garza did some research.

“Meanwhile, I also got the schedule from Corpus Christi,” De la Garza said. “I think ours is a little bit more liberal than Corpus and it covers any jurisdiction in Kleberg County including Padre Island.”

Kleberg’s towing companies worked up their numbers, brought them to De la Garza and the commissioners approved them. The county’s new uniform towing fees have other counties looking to replicate them.

“Willacy County recently called us and they are probably going to end up doing what we are doing,” De la Garza said.

“A lot of the other surrounding counties are going to copy what we are doing as well.”