The City of Dexter has been getting a lot of false fire alarms recently and is moving to add punitive fines to repeat offenders.
The city has an ordinance that allows charging a fine for repeated false police alarms, but not fire. Responses from the Dexter Area Fire Department do have a direct financial impact on the city.
Originally, the recommendation was a $3,000 fine for each offense, but council members, like Pavlo Popov, thought that was too high.
“Considering that there are plenty of criminal fees, I guess that people sometimes have to pay if they break the law that are never that level. I do favor having something. It’s just that $3,000 seems way, way too steep.”
Instead, the Council postponed a vote on the new ordinance and asked the administration to set a fee schedule that increases for repeat offenses.
There were 20 reported false fire alarms over a one-year period in Dexter.
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