PHOENIX (CBS5) -
A Phoenix towing company filed a complaint with the court Friday claiming that the city is collecting illegal fees from drivers through its current towing contract.
DV Towing is requesting a Maricopa County Superior Court judge to halt the city's pending re-bid on police towing contracts.
The company estimates that the city has collected $14 million in fees from 2008 to 2011 through its contracted towing company, Illinois-based United Road Services Southwest, despite a law limiting fees the city can collect.
The city of Phoenix uses towing companies to remove illegally parked cars and cars from crash scenes.
According to the complaint filed by DV Towing, the city began a contract in 2006 to provide public towing services as needed. The contract did not allow for the city to make money from the public or the towing company.
The DV Towing employees believe there is an illegal provision in a 2008 contract amendment allowing the towing company to charge the public.
The city, however, said it only collects enough fees to manage the towing issues for the Phoenix Police Department.
The city has four police towing contracts, and in January it began re-soliciting the contracts. DV Towing submitted its proposal in March. The city received a total of seven proposals from towing companies.
At the end of April, the city announced that it was changing its process to re-solicit towing companies.
DV Towing submitted a protest to court requesting the solicitation process be changed back to the initial plan, however, the city denied this protest.
DV Towing appealed again in June, and the city again denied the appeal.
The company's complaint said that if the city's contract with United Road Services Southwest is extended through 2013, the city could gain an additional $4 million.
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