Following the recent spike in vehicle thefts, Anchorage police officials were authorized Tuesday to increase the city's towing contract to account for all the recovered cars, SUVs and pickups impounded or parked in city lots.
The Anchorage Assembly approved the new contract without discussion. Among the documents submitted to the Assembly for action Tuesday evening was a request from the Anchorage Police Department for the annual contract with Vulcan Towing and Recovery Inc. to be boosted from $79,500 to $130,000.
An accompanying memo says the reason for the higher contract costs is a "drastically increased number of recovered stolen vehicles." The memo also described overcrowding in police evidence lots, which led to more towing requests to move vehicles around.
"There was no way when the original contract was signed that the increased numbers of vehicles being impounded could have been projected," APD officials wrote in the memo.
Anchorage police spokeswoman Renee Oistad couldn't say how many more stolen vehicles have been recovered and towed in 2016. But she emailed statistics showing about 1,100 reports of stolen cars so far this year. Police took about the same number of reports in all of 2015. In 2011, the yearly total was about half of what it was in 2015.
Oistad said the recovery rate for stolen cars is roughly 80 percent, or some 880 cars recovered this year.
While the number of stolen cars is unusual, Oistad said the contract change is not.
"It's like any business — unforeseen circumstances, you have to ask for an increase in money," Oistad said.
Police have linked the higher number of car thefts to an organized criminal ring. In April, authorities announced the arrests of more than 70 people on first-degree vehicle theft charges.
If police recover a stolen car, the first step is to contact the owner, Oistad said. Sometimes an owner can pick up the car right away or arrange to have it towed.
Otherwise, police arrange for the towing, to a tow lot or an evidence lot.
"We have to take them someplace until the owners can come get them," Oistad said.
The city only foots the bill if the car is towed to the police evidence lot rather than to the private tow lot for safekeeping, Oistad said.
Oistad said that most cars are not impounded for evidence. This year, however, a higher number of cars were recovered with stolen items inside, leading to more tows to the evidence lot, Oistad said.
Oistad said the towing company also recently raised rates, leading to higher costs.
Protections for Eklutna village expanded
The Assembly also on Tuesday night unanimously approved an expansion of special zoning regulations for the Native Village of Eklutna on the northern edge of the municipality.
In May 2014, the Assembly created a special zone that eased building restrictions for the village, the only Alaska Native village within Anchorage's boundaries and the oldest continually inhabited Athabascan site in the region.
The Assembly's action, pushed for by Assemblyman Bill Starr of Chugiak-Eagle River, gave the tribal council and Eklutna Inc. — a village corporation established under the 1971 Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act — more control over development in a 802-acre parcel, such as allowing more than one home to be built on a property so several generations can live close to each other.
On Tuesday, the Assembly supported adding another 157 acres to the parcel. The village got the land as a transfer from Wells Fargo Bank in December 2014.
Leaders of the village and of Eklutna Inc. attended the Assembly meeting and expressed gratitude for the measure, saying it will help maintain the character of what Eklutna chief executive Curtis McQueen called a "breathing, living village of the Dena'ina."
Other Assembly actions Tuesday included:
Approval of an ordinance introduced by Anchorage Assemblyman Dick Traini to allow commercial gunsmiths with federal firearms licenses to fire weapons into bullet traps or clearing barrels, though not in residential areas. Weapons cannot normally be fired in Anchorage.
Authorization of a $5 million increase to a Port of Anchorage litigation contract, paid for with money from a recent settlement.
Approval of two marijuana cultivation license applications, Arctic Herbery and Alaska Rustic LLC.
Authorization of a land swap between the city and a Spenard bakery as part of the Spenard Road reconstruction project.