Topeka, KS Parking Rules: Towing & Impound Rights (2026)

Topeka splits its towing rules between two chapters, and the police impound side is Chapter 10.25. Before most impoundments the Police Department must affix a notice to the vehicle in a conspicuous and semipermanent manner telling the owner it will be impounded when 48 hours run from the time stated on the notice, and TMC 10.25.020(b) forbids towing inside that 48 hour window; the only carve out is a vehicle impounded for violations of STO 85. The 48 hour tag applies to Kansas plated vehicles, out of state plates, and vehicles with no plate at all.

Once the car is in the lot, TMC 10.25.040(a) adopts K.S.A. 8-1101 and 8-1102 for impoundment, storage and notification, and pins the mailing deadline to the close of the first full working day after the towing. The three release routes in subsection (b) matter because the signature bond option lets an owner recover the vehicle without producing cash, and the hearing option puts the burden of showing probable cause for the tow on the City rather than on the driver. If the judge finds no probable cause, the vehicle is returned. Either way, no vehicle is released until the claimant shows documentation establishing the right to possession, and the traffic case itself is then set on the normal Municipal Court calendar.

The refund clause is the strongest owner protection in the chapter. Under subsection (c) a dismissal, an acquittal, or any other determination that the tow was improper triggers an automatic refund of towing and storage charges already paid, and the ordinance says expressly that the owner does not have to file a claim for the City Council to consider. The Municipal Court can order the refund directly. Subsection (d) also requires the rights set out in the notice letter to be posted on prominent signs in English and Spanish both at the Police Department impoundment lot and at police headquarters.

What Chapter 10.25 does not do is print the police tow and storage rates. TMC 10.25.050 delegates them: fees for towing and storage are established by the Chief of Police and approved by the City Manager, and a schedule of all fees is filed with the City Clerk and posted prominently at police headquarters and the impoundment lot. The governing dollar figures for a police ordered tow therefore live in an administrative schedule rather than in the code, and the ordinance names only the towing fee and storage charges as what an owner must pay to get the vehicle back. No separate city release or administrative fee is written into the police impound chapter.

The one flat city charge that does appear sits on the parking ticket enforcement path. TMC 10.60.620 lets parking control officers and police officers boot a vehicle carrying three or more unpaid parking tickets, TMC 10.60.640(b) sets the removal fee for the immobilization device at $35.00, and TMC 10.60.650(a) reimburses that removal charge if the owner later wins a contest. A vehicle left booted for 48 hours is impounded under TMC 10.60.660, and at that point release requires all charges associated with the impoundment, which the ordinance lists as including the removal fee, parking fines, towing fees and storage charges. The hearing clock on that track runs longer than the traffic tow clock: before the seventh business day following the request, again on probable cause, with a refund if the impoundment was not warranted.

Private property tows are regulated separately. TMC 10.25.080, adopted as required by K.S.A. 8-1103, caps what a private wrecker may charge, requires the operator to report the vehicle location to local law enforcement within two hours, and guarantees the owner access to personal property in the vehicle for 48 hours after the tow. Where the City itself does the towing after a police or fire supervisor orders a legally parked vehicle moved for public safety, TMC 10.25.010(f)(2)(i) makes the City, not the driver, bear the expense of removal and storage.