East Dundee updates alarm permit costs, adds renewal requirement

East Dundee has updated permit costs and added a renewal process to its ordinance requiring all residential and business alarm systems to be registered with the village.

The policy was last updated in 1996 and previously charged permit fees based on the number of alarm contacts installed, Police Chief George Carpenter said. There also was no requirement to renew the permits, he said, so the village had no way of knowing how many of the 173 alarm systems on file are still active.

The updated ordinance, approved Monday by the village board, sets a flat rate of $15 for a new alarm permit, plus a $10 renewal fee every two years. The village is developing a submission form that will allow alarm systems to be registered and renewed online.

To reduce the number of unnecessary police responses, the measure also sets a schedule of fines for false alarms, starting at $150 each after the fourth false alarm in a calendar year.

"We're very reasonable about this," Carpenter said. "We want to work with people so that they feel safe."