21 alarm companies haven’t paid fees to Sandy Springs

Wednesday evening, it seemed that nearly two dozen alarm companies wouldn’t be able to alert Sandy Springs police when their customers had potential burglaries.

That’s because the city pulled the plug on those security companies, putting them on a non-response list for overdue and unpaid fines for false alarms.

A week ago, 39 companies were notified that they were past due on payments to the city for violating its false-alarm ordinance. At an April 3 city council meeting, leaders in the city moved to revoke the registrations of those companies if they did not pay by Wednesday.

By 5 p.m. Wednesday, 21 companies had still not paid up, according to a list published on the city’s website.

Those who are still delinquent include: Alarm Force, Banner Security, Consumer Security, Convergint Technologies, Ede System, Interlink, Live Watch, New Georgia, Nationwide Integrators, Nichols Security, Owen Security, Patterson Security, Protection Concepts, Rock solid Security, RTA Security, Safe Home Security, Safecom Security, Simplex Grinnell and Strong Security.

Sharon Kraun, a spokeswoman for Sandy Springs, said the list would be final today to allow for “proper and accurate processing” of any pending payments.

Of the companies that were originally out of compliance, 18 had paid enough by Wednesday that the city would continue to respond to burglar alarms called in at those businesses or homes. Kraun cautioned that some companies paid enough to get them off the 90-day delinquent list, but still owed the city money, and were in danger of again becoming non-compliant.

Although the city’s police will not respond to burglar-alarm calls from those companies out of compliance, the city made it clear that first responders would still respond to fire alarms, duress calls, panic buttons and direct calls to 911.

The fight between Sandy Springs and the home alarm companies that do business in the city started last year, after the city passed an ordinance requiring the companies — not residents — to pay fines for false alarms.

City representatives claimed false alarms wasted government money and resources. The companies, claiming the ordinance was unconstitutional, filed a federal lawsuit against Sandy Springs last month.

AJC FILE PHOTO Last week, Sandy Springs City Council gave alarm companies until Wednesday to pay outstanding fines for violating a false-alarm ordinance. The city’s police department is not answering calls from those who haven’t paid.