Kingsville council adopts bylaw targeting false security alarms

CTV News file photo.

Kingsville council approved a new bylaw on Monday night to deal with false security alarms that OPP said were wasting time and resources.

Council heard that false alarms calls were costing the town about $52,000 a year, and in one case, a single property had 35 false alarms in about a year.

Initially, the town proposed a fee system where the first two false alarms, which covers both residential and commercial, each year would be free.

However, Coun. Larry Patterson thought that was too lax and brought forward a motion to change it to one free call.

“Coming up with some of these wages, like $56,000 to pull out of the air to cover extra policing, if we don’t catch it now, we have to take that away from something that we’ve already approved, we have to take that away,” Patterson said.

“So, I think the one time, the police education is done, the family has now been educated and it’s up to them.”

Coun. Tony Gaffan said sometimes there are other factors at play such as wind and property owners need the opportunity to take care of their alarm systems to ensure efficiency.

“It’s very fair to give them at least one or two for this year,” Gaffan said.

“If we see that it’s become a chronic [issue], then we can always amend the bylaw at any given time if we see that there is an uptake.”

Mayor Dennis Rogers said the town can’t afford to leave $52,000 on the table, which could instead be used toward investments for the town.

“We just went through our budget process, and you know we saw a 17 per cent increase in our OPP contract, which accounted for over 2 per cent of that tax increase that was approved,” Rogers said.

“It’s been pretty contentious and there’s been you know some anger from residents over that percentage.”

Council settled on one free false alarm per year, with a $150 fee for a second false alarm and $375 for each additional one.

Councillors Debby Jarvis-Chausse and Tony Gaffan were opposed.