With the new fiscal year will come new registration and renewal fees for alarm systems in the City of Asheville. Following an overwhelming number of false alarms coming into the Asheville Police Department — 97% of which were false alarms — City Council adopted a revised Alarm Ordinance at its June 22 meeting.
According to the staff report to Council, from January 1, 2018, to May 12, 2021, Asheville Police responded to 15,682 business and residential burglar alarms, of which 97% of which were false alarms. The revised Alarm Ordinance is based upon best law enforcement and security alarm industry practices, with a goal of increasing efficiency, managing its alarm permitting process, and reducing false alarms.
Best practices have been written into the revised Alarm Ordinance, to include, but are not limited to new registration and renewal fees as follows:
-
Alarm system permit fee: $25
-
Alarm system renewal fee: $10
-
Late fee after 30 days: $25
-
Appeal hearing fee: $50 (reimbursed if appeal is upheld)
-
Reinstatement of response fee: $50
The revised Alarm Ordinance also incorporates graduated civil penalties for false alarms, providing for new equipment standards.
These best practices have shown to reduce false alarms by 40%.
To read the staff report to Council and the revised Alarm Ordinance, visit this link.