(a) As used in this section,
FALSE ALARM means an emergency alarm, activated by inadvertence, negligence or unintentional acts, including, but not limited to, malfunction of the alarm system, to which the City Police and/or Fire Department responds. The definition excludes false alarms caused by: malfunction, testing or repairing of telephone equipment or lines; malfunction, testing or repairing of the normal power supply source for alarms installed on residential subdivisions; acts of God, such as earthquake, flood, windstorm, thunder or lightning; an attempted illegal entry of which there is visible evidence; or the user acting under a sincere belief that a need exists to call the Police and/or Fire Department. If a doubt exists as to the cause of a false alarm, the Chief of Police and/or Fire shall resolve it in favor of the alarm user. Multiple alarms received by the Bureau of Emergency Communications before the system can be deactivated within a reasonable period of time shall be considered a single alarm.
(b) A charge in accordance with the following schedule shall be imposed for false alarms:
Business, commercial, industrial | |
First three false alarms in a calendar year | No charge |
Four or more false alarms in a calendar year | $50 per false alarm |
Residential | |
First three false alarms in a calendar year | No charge |
Four or more false alarms in a calendar year | $25 per false alarm |
(c) Notwithstanding the fee to be assessed, as set forth above, no charge shall be made for the first three false alarms in a calendar year, nor shall there be any charge for a false alarm to which there is no response by the Police and/or Fire Department, nor when the cause has been proven to be an act of God.
(d) A grace period of 30 days from the date of installation shall be granted to new permittees. During this period, no false alarms shall be counted towards the three allowable false alarms before charges are assessed.
(e) Any charge for a false alarm, as provided for in division (b) hereof, which remains unpaid 30 days after date of invoice, shall result in a certified letter being mailed to the owner, and tenant if applicable, stating that they will have ten days from the date of receiving the certified letter to pay the amount due or it will be added to their property tax bill with a penalty of 10%. If the amount due is not paid by then, the Director of Finance shall certify the amount due to the County Auditor for collection on the owner’s property tax bill.
(Ord. 1998-119, passed 7-6-1998; Ord. 2007-77, passed 4-16-2007)