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Garden City, NJ, Inks New Alarm Ordinance

The new Garden City, NJ, alarm law was met with citizen backlash at a recent village meeting. The ordinance calls for an annual alarm system license fee - the amount is yet to be determined by the board of trustees but not to be “excessive,” according to Mayor Rothschild. The local law also sets forth penalties for four or more false alarms during any consecutive 12-month period.

For Manny Velez of Nassau Boulevard, paying a fee just for having a house alarm almost makes him not want one at all. “Paying a fee for having an alarm almost deters you from having one,” he said. “I have no problem paying a fee for an additional service.”

Bob Orosz questioned why residents would be required to pay a fee to the county or town when it’s the village forces that are responding to the alarm. “In essence we’re paying on top of being monitored,” he said. “Why not pay the village and forget about the county and the town. That makes sense to me. I’m paying for the village to respond to the alarm. I’m not paying the county or the Town of Hempstead. They’re not coming. The village is coming. I think that would be a way to get revenue.”

Arnold Finnamore also objected: “I think its unfair we have to pay two fees for one alarm system.”

According to Fire Captain Gil Frank, Nassau County requires a registration fee through the Fire Marshal’s office. The Garden City Fire Department does not have full time dispatching. 

“When Headquarters Company personnel (career personnel) are not in Headquarters to monitor the emergency lines, the Nassau County Fire Communications office (FIRECOM) answers our emergency lines. For that reason, all monitored fire alarms are required to notify the Nassau County Fire Communications office (FIRECOM) when a signal is received. FIRECOM then either notifies or dispatches the responsible fire department for response,” Captain Frank said. “Even if we had full time dispatching, there is a county requirement that requires residents to pay the county a registration fee.”

Tom Pinou, president of the Western Property Owners’ Association, said his members couldn’t understand why they were being charged for something that’s really part of their taxes as far as the police or fire departments responding.

“From our board’s perspective, we understand the interest in raising revenue. But we all had a problem with this one as far as registering something and paying an additional cost,” Pinou told trustees. “We understand that if there are multiple false alarms it is fair to charge the resident. But to charge the resident for having a system was not something we wanted to really understand. It felt like we were getting double dipped.”

Kathy Wood of Tullamore Road questioned how the proposed law addresses carbon monoxide detectors. Mayor Rothschild assured that a carbon monoxide alarm is considered a “viable call for a possible emergency,” and hence the resident would not be charged for a false alarm.

Trustee Dennis Donnelly told residents that the board has not yet set any fee. “We’re not setting a fee this evening,” he said. “The fee could be set at zero.”

Trustee John Mauk said the premise of the law was really to focus on the frequency of false alarms in the village. “The intent of this is really to address situations to reduce false alarms,” Mauk said. 

There will be no penalty for up to three false alarms within any consecutive 12-month period. However, four to eight false alarms imposes a mandatory fine of $50 for each occurrence within any consecutive 12-month period; nine to 12 false alarms imposes a mandatory fine of $100 per each occurrence within any consecutive 12-month period; 13 or more false alarms imposes a mandatory fine of $200 for each occurrence within a 12-month period.

Every alarm system must be equipped so that upon activation of a burglary alarm, there will be a mandatory delay of at least 30 seconds before the transmission of a signal to the police department so as to enable the user to abort the signal in the event that it was triggered inadvertently. This delay, the law notes, will not be applicable to a robbery (hold up) or to medical emergency alarms.

Further, every alarm system that also signals a fire alarm must be equipped with a “separate distinguishing signal for each kind of alarm” and every alarm system emitting an “audible, visual or other similar response outside the premises” must include a device that automatically shuts off the outside audible or visual signal or other response within 15 minutes from activation.

Trustees Don Brudie and John Watras did not approve this local law. However, it still passed by a vote of 6-2.