(A) Each time the County Sheriff’s office responds to a false intrusion alarm due to system malfunction or when no reason can be determined for the false alarm, the County Sheriff’s office shall issue a false alarm warning notice.
(B) A service fee for excessive false intrusion alarms shall be charged as follows.
(1) No service fee shall be charged for the first three alarms occurring within a 12- month period, calculated from the date of the first alarm.
(2) Each false alarm in excess of three and up to and including six within a 12-month period shall result in a service fee of $50 per false alarm.
(3) Each false alarm in excess of six within a 12-month period shall result in a service fee of $100 per false alarm.
(C) No service fee shall be assessed if the false alarm is:
(1) Caused by an electrical storm, tornado or other act of God where there is clear evidence of physical damage to the alarm system;
(2) Caused by the intermittent disruption of telephone circuits beyond the control of the alarm site owner;
(3) Caused by electrical power disruption or failure in excess of two hours beyond the control of the alarm site owner; or
(4) At a location where the County Sheriff’s office has installed the VARDA-alarm or other similar alarms.
(D) All false alarm service fees are due and payable within 30 days from the date of invoice. In the event that false alarm service fees are not paid as required by this subchapter, the fees will be assessed to the property taxes. A person commits an offense in violation of this subchapter if he or she suffers or permits false alarms in excess of three within a 12-month period, with each subsequent false alarm constituting a separate violation.
(Prior Code, § 14-5) Penalty, see § 10.99