As new commissioners are seated, the intrusions and the fees to pay for those intrusions, can now begin. This Tuesday night, the Kissimmee City Commission will decide on an ordinance amending the false alarm system ordinance, which at first glance sounds simple enough until citizens actually dig into the ordinance. After reading the ordinance, citizens would quickly realize that besides adding a yearly fire alarm tax on top of a fire fee that the commission is already charging, that it also has a provision that anyone owning a fire alarm must register yearly with the Kissimmee Police Department. Besides the pure revenue motive, you might ask why would someone who has never broken a law or had a single false alarm with their system have to register every year with the KPD? The answer, according to this weeks 'agenda' is simple. "Our new company that assists us in collecting false alarm fines is recommending we update our City Code section on police and fire alarms in order to make it easier to collect false alarm fines. In addition, we would like to update our false alarm fees to encourage property owners to do a better job of managing false alarms."So the premise of this new invasion of privacy is simple, you have to pay so we can afford the company who is going to track anyone who owns an alarm system. What the WayneWho staff really finds interesting is how the commission has turned this issue around and made it the alarm owners' fault for this ordinance having to be passed because 'property owners need to do a better job of managing their alarm systems.' From what we can tell there is not even a provision as to whether or not only the alarms that can dial 911 will be taxed and tracked by government officials. It seems that anyone owning a legal piece of equipment purchased to help keep life and property safe must pay even if the reason a security system was purchased was because crime prevention in the city of Kissimmee had failed. There is no backup information on the agenda as to what kind of outlaw a citizen would become if they did not register their alarm system, but from the direction this commission is already taking, it would have something to do with a fine of some sort. Since the new security alarm tax will cost $25.00 for residents and $50.00 for commercial properties yearly, we recommend that you disable the alarms and purchase a weapon. Since concealed weapons permits are good for seven years, it is actually cheaper over the long hall to return to the wild days of Kissimmee's past where gunslingers ruled the area. Sure you have to register your information and be kept on file with the state just like the city wants to do, but that is for owning an actual gun and not just a piece of electronics.
13 comments:
Art is going to be another Tax and Spend republican so you are right. Let the taxing begin and the moving vans come forth!
Next they will want to charge you a fee for owning a garbage disposal because it connects to the City's sewage. Way to go commissioners.
I think the weapons permit is $177.00 for 7 years. Sounds like a better deal, but I am suprised that the commission and the police deparment are encouraging us to carry guns around.
Gee. We got rid of "I love taxes" Van Meter, so I guess Gemskie and his best bud Swan will take over. I wonder how this will play out with Irizarry and Otero? A Rino Republican and a Me, Me, me Democrat. C'mon Durbin jump in there and give an honest, well thought out discertation. Is Connie still working?
connie has been appointed to run the office for mary jane.
Who appointed Connie?
Biggest mistake ever made was to let Click stay. Maybe MaryJane needs to look at things a little bit differently. Four years from now it might come back and bite her.
I don't believe Click is going to be staying at the SOE office. She's still there now because Mary Jane hasn't taken office
Maybe the ordnance is poorly written, but false alarms are a serious drain on city resources. I have not read the most recent attempt, but something needs to change.
There are quite a few property owners that have five false alarms a month or more. There are even a couple that have had 4 or 5 in a single day.
Why is it fair that all city taxpayers have to foot the bill because a few property owners either cannot repair their system or (like with certain low income apartment complexes) they have tenants who like to pull the fire alarm, so they can see the pretty fire trucks.
Mary Jane needs to wake up. No Click in that office. The people have spoken. MJ needs to do what the voters elected her to do, and that's to clean office.
The issue isn't with the false alarm part of the ordinance...it's with making every home and business that has an alarm system pay an annual permit fee so that the city can maintain another database of billing information.
I do not like registering my alarm system. This is just another expense and time waster. The city could just as easily get all the information from the alarm companies at no cost. The alarm companies can provide the info to the city as a requisite to their license. This is just a money grab for the city.
This will also benefit the crooks, because all they have to do is get the list of alarm owners and know who not to hit in the neighborhoods.
Maybe the city could increase revenue by allowing citizens to get an alarm license. That would give them some protection from the bad guys.
Once again Mary Jane doesn't take office until January. Connie is still at the office because she is still currently the Supervisor of Elections. Connie will most definitely be gone when Mary Jane takes office in January, I promise you!
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