False alarm fees have gone up

The fee for false alarms have gone up to $86.25 (+taxes), as approved by the Timmins Police Services Board recently.

Deputy Chief Des Walsh says the service has been imposing fees since 2010, and this is the first time they’ve raised the fee.

He adds the idea came to their attention through the core services review, looking for cost recovery methods to help the city budget.

It’s a 15% increase from the original $75, while the administration fee is up from $10 to $25, cancellation user fee up from $35 to $40.25 (+taxes) and admin fee for an alarm cancellation goes from $10 to $25.

Fees seem to be working, as the number of cases have gone down ever since (with a slight exception for 2011 to 2012).

• 2010: 1,378
• 2011: 1,186
• 2012: 1,217
• 2013: 1,149
• 2014: 1,057
• 2015: 930 (projected total)

Other cities across the province charge higher amounts for false alarms.

Ottawa is at $140, the Peel Region is set at $164, Toronto’s is $130 and Barrie’s fee goes up starting at $100 for the second false alarm, $200 for the third time and $300 for the fourth.

Police say reducing the number of false alarms is important so the service can deploy its human resources more efficiently.