City Hires Outside Firm to Collect Alarm Fines

The City of Long Beach is the first municipality on Long Island to hire an outside firm to collect fines that are levied for false alarms.

The City Council voted Aug. 7 to hire the Texas-based PMAM Corporation to collect fines, fees and penalties — starting at $100 per incident and that go up to $700 for repeat offender — and the firm will receive 24 percent of all revenues collected.

City Manager Jack Schnirman said the city proposed this measure due to the many uncollected fees and the numerous alarms  — about 1,100 annually — which create a distraction for emergency response teams, according to CBS News. Long Beach Police Commissioner Michael Tagney said about the new arrangement:  

“I’m proud that we are innovative and the first ones doing this. And I think many municipalities will follow suit.”

Let Patch save you time. Get breaking news and great local stories like this delivered right to your inbox or smartphone everyday with our free newsletter. Simple, fast sign-up here.

But some residents and council members questioned the move to hire an outside company. Richard Boodman, who has an alarm system at his Monroe Boulevard home, called the measure a “taxpayer rip-off.”

“You’re making me feel as if I’m paying off the debt,” Boodman told the city manager at last week's meeting, noting that false alarms are not always the homeowner's fault. “It’s not right … If you want to up the rate of my taxes, just come out and say it.” 

Schnirman said that the city has neither the manpower nor the resources to collect the fines. “Like many other municipalities across the nation, this is the form we’re choosing to move forward and go out and collect the fines,” said Schnirman, who added that it is “a lot more cost effective.” 

Mindy Warshaw, a Boyd Street resident, told the city manager to mandate that “the police department do their jobs, see how many alarms go off on a trial basis before you’re going to hire an outsider … Why can’t we do our own work, we’re a city?”