Alarm fee- City of Austin!?

T

The Bloak

100+ Posts
Long story short, we recently moved into our house and while at work the alarm went off. Police showed up, false alarm, all is well.

So jump forward a couple of weeks and we get a "bill" in the mail stating we must pay $30/yr to have our alarm registered with the city and if it isn't paid, we owe the city $220 plus additional fees.

This is the first time I have ever heard of something like this. It was never mentioned when we purchased our system and it seems odd that we, not the security company, would have to register our system. Overall not a huge deal, I just find it somewhat odd.

Anybody else ever dealt with the city on this issue?
 
I get the invoice from the city every year (for the past 10 or so) and have just paid it. I never investigated it or anything like that but I think it is standard when you get the alarm. I think i got my first invoice from the city right after my alarm was installed.
 
agree that it's odd how it's handled. Essentially, if you never set your alarm off (accidentally or actual break in) then the city will never know that you have a system. They only request payment after they are called.

This exact thing has happened at both houses I've owned. I just pay the $30/yr
 
You pay the alarm fee to help cover the cost of false alarms. You can look at it as a ******** use tax if you want.

You pay the fee, not the alarm company because: 1> it's a yearly fee, 2> your installer might not know when you've activated it 3> your monitoring company isn't going to mess with CoA's junk fees and 4> you have to pay it for any alarm that makes noise that can be heard outside the house, whether it's monitored or not.

Your installer should have told you about it. I know mine did. I remember filling out the form myself, though, then paying the bill every year when the city sends it in.
 
Common in most big cities, and in Dallas the fee was $75/year if I recall. When I got my alarm installed in Austin two years ago, I had to sign a form and got an application for the City of Austin fee.
 
Very common. I got mine done the week I got my system installed. forgot to pay the bill one year and had a false alarm. The city let me pay the 30 bucks and waived the show up fee. I appreciated that gesture.

Come to think about it, I need to pay up prob. next month.

It makes sense and you get a certain amount of false alarms under that 30 bucks. But trust me, you never want to be called by your company that monitors your alarm that one is going off. Talk about panic!
 
Appreciate it.

I figured it was some type of "monitoring fee" and I don't have a problem paying it- guess it was just a bit of a surprise seeing as the alarm company never mentioned it.
 
If you live in Round Rock and you have more then three (3) false alarms in one year the police no longer respond to alarms at that address. However there is no yearly fee.
 
just don't have false alarms and you're cool. and the putz installers didn't tell me anything about a city fee, thanks loop!
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I personally think the monitored service is kind of a rip b/c 99% of people who try to break in will scatter once they hear the alarm and they'll be gone by the time the apd dispatches someone 1 hr later.
 
Also if you have good neighbors, which seem hard for most to come by (I am lucky) then they will call it in quickly and also peer out to see what they can see.

I have mine monitored mostly for the fire alarm and notification. To get to a fire before it is so damaging or deadly is worth the price of admission for me. To know my dog has a chance to get saved before I could get home is comforting.

Also, make sure your house is tagged that you have animals so the rescuers know.
 
Most cities have alarm permits. It depends on the city or county as to what the fees are. Some do not charge but they want to know if you have alarms. The consultant should tell you about the permit when he does the paperwork but sometimes people forget to mention it.
 
I have an alarm, but have never paid the fee. So far, no false alarms.

Don't your alarm companies call you before they call the police? I've had them call me twice when I had just left the house and was still in my neighborhood. Both times I knew I my garage door had not closed all the way and set off the alarm. They called me, I told them it was a false alarm and they turned it off.
 
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