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Fort Lauderdale might have to reimburse residents for False Alarm fees Collected
| According to an August 18 story in the South Florida Times, town officials are more than a bit nervous about the prospect of repaying residents and company owners who were allegedly overcharged for faulty alarms to the tune of more than $450,000 in 2008 alone. Further, some argue the city's practice of allegedly overcharging on faulty security system citations goes back to at least 2004, and possibly constitutes a breach of the Florida State Constitution. If this is proven a violation, the effects of the practice might be wide reaching and devastating. nnScott W. Leeds, senior managing partner of the Miami office of The Cochran Firm says the case in Fort Lauderdale will almost definitely spur lawsuits looking for refunds, and might set a precedent of greater ordinance scrutiny. Leeds suggests that municipalities and corporations, at times, will take liberties that they're not entitled to. He believes this common practice is going to be examined both by auditors of the different municipalities and the very creative attorneys around the state, perhaps even nationwide. The real problem in Fort Lauderdale lies in the discrepancy between a fee and a fine. Industry consultant Les Gold of law firm Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp explained Fort Lauderdale is obviously imposing either a fee or a fine; if a fee, it is exorbitant and therefore illegal, and if a fine, it is illegal because there is no due process. Under the Constitution, if a fine is levied, the constituent must have a right to question it. Fort Lauderdale has no such location to ensure citizens are given their right to appeal, which means any citizen fined is being denied constitutional rights, according to this interpretation. Additionally, the city's faulty alarm fee schedule tops out at nearly three times the actual cost (according to the South Florida Times article) to the city for response to an alarm. City auditor John Herbst said he has been trying without success for over a year to get the ordinance reexamined by city commissioners.nnSIAC head Ron Walters feels the situation in Fort Lauderdale is out of hand. Mr. Walters indicated that, for many years, a flat $25 response fee was charged, which did nothing to reduce dispatches and didn't even cover the cost to respond. Walters went on to say that a full ordinance review was suggested, but ultimately was turned down. SIAC director Stan Martin agreed and said the case could have been avoided if town officials would just paying attention. nnDevcon exec of operations Roy Pollack who is past president of the Alarm Association of Florida said the industry should not be affected by the false alarm flap in Fort Lauderdale. Pollack suggested that it's simply a debate of reviewing the records, and reexamining the charges to be sure that they were assessed in compliance. City spokesperson Jeff Modarelli said the city is aware of the problem and plans are in place to reevaluate the ordinance. Modarelli said that plans have been designed to bring this problem back to the commission in the near future. nnn |
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Progressive Technology has protected hundreds of homes and businesses with their California home security system services for over a decade. Their security systems are well respected in the burglar alarm field, and specifically around California. Ethernet Cabling is another area of expertise.
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