False alarms could cost more under proposed ordinance

The Memphis City Council kept their Tuesday meeting brief, pushing many agenda items into the future, including the proposal for a referendum to increase the city’s sales tax rate.

It did pass an ordinance on second reading to increase fees and fines for false alarms for homeowners and businesses. An address can now have five false alarms with no penalty.

If it passes on a third and final reading, the new law would impose on Memphis home and business owners a fine of $25 after a second false alarm and then every time after that. The annual alarm permit fee would rise from $5 to $10.

The alarm permit would be revoked after the sixth false alarm (it is currently seven) but would include a renewal process for homeowners to show that problems have been resolved.

Council chairman Edmund Ford Jr. said the city has about 48,000 false alarms each year. He said Nashville had 3,888 false alarms last year. Knoxville had 2,816 false fire alarms last year, he said, each costing that city $255. He said the proposed new fines and fees in Memphis are simply about recovering the cost of sending police and fire to the scene of the alarm.

Responding to all alarms is part of the job of the Memphis Police Department’s mission as a fullservice department, said MPD deputy chief Jim Harvey.

“If we didn’t (respond to every call) and a certain segment of the population found out we’re not going out on alarm calls, you’d have a lot more (break ins),” Harvey said.

Council member Kemp Conrad, the sponsor of the bill, said responding to alarm calls is a good service and that most people use their alarms properly.

Any revenues collected beyond the costs of the Metro Alarm office would be divided each year between the Memphis Police Department and the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office.

Budget chairman Jim Strickland pulled from the agenda a vote to set a referendum on increasing the city’s sales tax a half percent, from 2.25 to 2.75 percent. Strickland and co-sponsor Shea Flinn have written the proposal so that it would earmark $27 million in increased revenue for pre-kindergarten programs and $20 million to reduce property taxes.