Nobody wants junk RVs on the street. Nobody wants to pay to get rid of them, either.

The owners of several local towing companies say they’re losing thousands of dollars a year to help keep local roads clear of abandoned and derelict RVs, buses and campers.

“It’s getting to be a bigger and bigger problem,” said Paul Bressi, owner of Nisqually Automotive & Towing.

He and his son recently spoke to the Thurston County Commissioners about the issue. They asked the three-member board to support upcoming legislation that could provide some financial relief for companies that tow abandoned RVs. Under the current system, tow companies usually foot the disposal bill, which is usually $800 to $1,000 per RV, Bressi said.

Thurston County Sheriff Sgt. Carla Carter said more abandoned RVs are being left on county roads. They often block roads, and contain raw sewage.

“It’s just a disgusting encumbrance,” Carter said.

Kellie Purce Braseth, a spokeswoman for the city of Olympia, said Parking Services workers also are seeing an increase in RVs on city streets.

“Some are abandoned and some are not,” she said. “City staff have had concerns about toxic substances leaking out onto the street, and garbage and other debris on the sidewalk and streets.”

Nisqually Towing has about a dozen abandoned RVs in its Hawks Prairie storage yard.

“We impound them, and the registered owners can’t be found,” Bressi told The Olympian. “The legal owners don’t want anything to do with them. … It’s costing us to get rid of them.”

Bressi said he plans to rent an excavator to tear them up and take them to the dump. That will help him lower dump fees, but he’ll still be out thousands of dollars, he said.

Two of the RVs were badly damaged in fires. The windows are broken in a newer one, and it has significant water damage.

Several appear to have been used as homes. But they’re also filled with trash and drug needles, and have full septic tanks, Bressi said.

Some were used as meth labs, and are now considered toxic.

“The problem is they are not worth fixing,” Bressi said.

Tow companies can usually find buyers for abandoned cars and trucks that they recover. There’s a market for their scrap metal and parts.

Not so for the abandoned RVs.

“We’re talking about these 1980s and ’70s RVS that are finally wearing out and rusting out,” said Peter Lukevich, director of the Towing and Recovery Association of Washington. “Nobody will buy them.”

Sometimes, the RVs break down during a move. More often, they are intentionally ditched.

“A lot of times these motorhomes are just being pushed out on the road and left,” Bressi said.

Bill Trull, owner of Bill’s Towing in Yelm, said his company gets called for abandoned RVs about once a week.

“We sometimes tow them for free to avoid impounding them because we have no way to get rid of them,” Trull said. “We also will give them away at auction for free to avoid disposal.”

Bill Fazekas, owner of Boyds Towing on Black Lake Boulevard, described it as a “gigantic problem.” Half are used by the homeless or as drug dens. The other half are property owners that want to duck out on towing and disposal costs, he said.

“People abandon boats and other vehicles, too,” Fazekas said. “Anything with wheels: boats, car trailers, anything they can tow on wheels gets abandoned.”

Lukevich said his organization surveyed its members and estimates that there are more than 1,500 abandoned RVs in tow yards around the state.

“These are sitting in our yards, rotting even further than they were,” he said. “It’s become an extreme financial impact on our members.”

The association is working with the departments of Licensing, Transportation, and Ecology, as well as the recycling industry and state and local governments to develop a bill that will generate revenue to help pay disposal costs.

One of the options that they are studying is whether money could be raised through a fee added on to RV license tabs, said Bressi, who is on a work group for the proposed legislation.

“Everybody realizes there’s a problem,” he said. “The big thing is just how to address the problem. How to take care of the problem.”

This story was originally published December 9, 2017 at 6:00 AM with the headline "Nobody wants junk RVs on the street. Nobody wants to pay to get rid of them, either.."