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JUL 07 192 On May 14, 1991, the Board of County Commissioners revisited the Ahlse Fire Alarm Ordinance and increased the service charges to ,4100.00 for the first false alarm in excess of three alarms; $200.00 for the second -false alarm in excess of three; and $300.00 for the third and each successive additional false alarm in excess of three in any six-month period. During the period from July 1, 1991, through December 31, 1991, there were 88 false fire alarms which resulted in service charges. The amount of $16,900 was billed/invoiced to the eleven (11) agencies or individuals for the false fire alarm charges. As of June 22, 1992, only three agencies have paid the service charges billed to them or a total of $800. A balance of $16,100 remains outstanding and a second billing notice was sent May 1, 1992, to each agency or individual which has not paid. The problem being encountered by staff is timely payment of the invoices sent out in February, 1992. A second billing term is coming to a close on June 30, 1992, for which the excessive false fire alarms will be subject to the increased charges. As of May 30, 1992, there are 137 billable false fire alarms with another thirty days to go on the billing cycle. The fire prevention staff is working with the agencies or individuals to preclude any additional increases in the number of false fire alarms that is currently being experienced. Staff felt it would be appropriate to bring the matter to the attention of the Board for review prior to aggressively seeking payment of the charges through other processes provided by the existing ordinance. ALTERNATIVES AND ANALYSIS Some of the agencies have raised the issue of exemptions since they are non-profit organizations. Two other entities are tax revenue supported to some degree and a possible exemption has also been raised by one of these agencies. It seems the common agreement among the agencies who have contacted staff is that the service charges are excessive and unfair. Staff feels that the costs associated with false fire alarms equally impacts all the taxpayers and all entities, whether private, charitable, non-profit, or tax supported. A recently passed state law should provide some relief in terms of the -number of false fire alarms that are occurring. The law requires that every fire alarm panel be tagged as having been inspected and certified by a licensed electrical contractor or fire alarm contractor. Absent this certification, the fire prevention inspector will report it as a fire code safety violation which must be quickly corrected. Since some alarm systems have not been checked for defects in years, staff feels this law will really be beneficial and reduce the number of false alarms. Action is being taken by some -of the larger institutions in the County to correct problems. One has recently employed a full time licensed fire alarm contractor to handle the facility fire alarm system. This is required due to the fact the facility has over 3,000 fire alarm devices. With this large number of devices, some malfunctions are always going to occur. When some facilities have this large a number of devices, it seems to be somewhat unfair because they are placed in the same category as a homeowner who has only a single device system. Possibly some modification of the existing ordinance which would include a fee structure for different facilities in terms of the number of fire alarm devices would be appropriate. 48