In St. Paul, maintaining an intruder alarm system will soon cost $38 annually, which is a $10 hike over the current annual permit licensing fee.

Meanwhile, the penalties for two or more false alarms in a year will more than triple.

The St. Paul City Council voted 5-2 Wednesday to make two rule changes that make it more expensive for homeowners and businesses to protect their properties with alarm systems.

Annual licensing fees for alarm systems are currently $28, and would have gone up to $58 if an ordinance recommended by the St. Paul Police Department had been approved as proposed.

The $38 figure was seen by most council members as a fitting compromise, though some said it was still too high.

“I think we should try to keep it as low as possible,” said Council Member Dai Thao, who voted against the increase. He was joined by Council Member Dan Bostrom in voting no.

FALSE-ALARM FEES GO UP

Under St. Paul’s current system, fees for false alarms range from $25 to $150, but charges are not incurred until the third false call within a year.

Under the rule changes approved Wednesday, the penalties will increase to $75 for the second alarm within a calendar year, $100 for the third, $200 for the fourth, $300 for the fifth, $400 for the sixth and $500 for the seventh and each one thereafter.

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The St. Paul Police Department acquired administration of the alarm fees from the Department of Safety and Inspections several years ago.

A recent letter from the city to alarm permit holders indicated that police responses to 5,000 false alarms annually costs the city more than $2.6 million each year, and they need to recoup those losses.

Opponents have pointed out that by that math, each false alarm costs the city $500 for roughly 30 minutes of two officers’ time. The council received written responses from dozens of residents and business owners, almost none of them supportive of the proposal.

Police said the annual permit fees have not gone up in a decade, and they have been recouping only $260,000 annually from the current fee structure.

Few, if any, other cities in the metro charge a recurring alarm permit fee.

In Minneapolis, the city charges $30 for the first false alarm, $100 for the second, $200 for the third, and an additional $100 for each alarm after that. There is no annual permitting fee.