Philadelphia Councilman Wants To Eliminate $50 Annual Fee For Home Alarm Systems
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - Homeowners in Philadelphia who have security systems have to pay a $50 annual fee to the city. Now, a councilman says that fee is unfair and he wants it eliminated.
Councilman Jim Kenney says it is fair that homeowners must pay a $50 registration fee when they first have a security system installed. But it's not fair, he says, that they have to pay that fee every year thereafter.
"Once the alarm system is registered, there's no sense in paying another $50 every year."
Kenney has introduced a bill that would eliminate the fee after year one.
"This is one of the more frequent complaints I get from citizens in the city. They're paying a fee they don't understand why, and they see no purpose in it after the first initial registration."
A spokesman for the mayor says the fee is needed annually to cover the cost of police response when the alarms go off. The city received about $3-million from the fees last year. Kenney's bill does retain penalties for homes that constantly have false alarms.
Reported by Mike Dunn, KYW Newsradio
