False fire alarms will now cost Mesa businesses.
The City Council Monday night approved two new fees for fire department services to city commercial properties.
The department will now charge $100 for every false alarm call they respond to. The first false alarm and calls canceled while first responders are on the way will not cost anything.
“We commit a great number of resources to respond to commercial fire alarms and so what this does is it allows us the opportunity to cost recover,” said Mesa Fire Spokesman Forrest Smith.
Mesa Fire Department reports there are about 450 false alarms at businesses each year.
“This is actually a result of a great deal of outreach done by the fire chief to get out to the organization and to get a feel for what people thought would be good ideas to help us save money,” Smith said.
Mesa’s public safety agencies have battled budget shortfalls made worse by the failure of a tax increase rejected by voters last year. The Arizona Republic reportedthe Mesa Fire Department recently started selling advertising space on its firetrucks.
City Council also approved fees for fire department responses to damaged commercial gas lines. There will be a dispatch fee of $26.50, an hourly personnel cost of $213.65 and a charge per mile traveled of $3.56.
The report prepared for council estimated it could collect $28,419 in the next full fiscal year.
