The N.C. Highway Patrol is tightening the system for calling wreckers to crash scenes after complaints about price gouging, snarly tow truck drivers and even stolen money.

Highway Patrol officials told the Joint Legislative Transportation Oversight Committee Thursday that motorists complained that tow truck operators, called to the scene by troopers, were tacking on a host of added charges, such as a fee for sweeping up taillight glass, as well as treating car owners disrespectfully and, in some cases, stealing items out of cars.

"The public holds the highway patrol accountable for what happens at that accident scene," Col. Walter Wilson, the patrol's commander, told the committee.

Wilson emphasized that the patrol's first priority is safety.

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N.C. Transportation officials expect road construction money to continue decreasing over the next two years.

The department's revenue from gas and car sales taxes is down 11 percent, or $317 million, from what was budgeted in July, according to Mark Foster, the department's chief financial officer.

"We're not anticipating a rebound over the next couple of years," Foster told the Joint Legislative Transportation Oversight Committee Thursday.

Foster said the department expects a similar decline in the budget that runs from July 2009 to June 2010. Prices for construction material have skyrocketed, especially on petroleum-based asphalt, while gas and car sales taxes have fallen due to fewer car purchases and less driving. The gas tax also was capped at 29.9 cents two years ago instead of rising with gas prices to pay for similar rises in asphalt prices.

The current dip in gas prices and lower construction bids have helped, Foster said. Both could speed up construction — the good news — but that creates a cashflow problem of having the money to pay for construction that finishes early — the bad news.

"We're not sure where this story ends," Foster said.