Text · page 3 of 24
Town of Aurora | Town Board Meeting | April 13, 2026 SECTION 1. TITLE. This chapter of the Aurora Town Code shall be known as the “Town of Aurora Alarm Code.” SECTION 2. PURPOSE. The purpose of this chapter is to protect and promote the health, safety and general welfare of the residents of the Town of Aurora by reducing the number of false alarms, via proprietary alarm systems of fire, intrusion, holdup, emergency medical systems or other emergencies which contribute to ineffective utilization of police and fire and emergency response agencies. Such emergency responses are susceptible to high accident rates, interfere with genuine emergencies (responses) and produce unnecessary alarm noise to the surrounding community. SECTION 3. DEFINITIONS. For the purpose of this chapter, the following words and phrases shall have the meanings respectively ascribed to them by this section: ALARM SYSTEM A device or an assembly of equipment which is designed to detect smoke, abnormal rise in temperature, fire, water flow, medical emergency or an entry into or exit from a building, structure or facility or a holdup alarm and, by reason thereof, emits an audible response intended to alert persons outside of the premises and/or transmit a signal or message to an emergency agency, either directly or through a private or commercial relay facility. AUTOMATIC DIALER A device that automatically dials and relays a prerecorded message to an emergency agency or to a commercial relay facility. EMERGENCY AGENCY The Police Department or Fire Department, Central Fire Alarm Office, Emergency Medical Services (EMS), or other emergency dispatch center. FALSE ALARM An activation of an alarm system where either an emergency situation does not exist or the activator does not have a reasonable basis to believe that an emergency situation does exist. SECTION 4. EXISTING ALARM SYSTEMS. The owners and lessees of premises having existing alarm system shall comply with §35-5 and §35-6 of this chapter within 90 days of the effective date described in §35-14. SECTION 5. AUTOMATIC CUTOFF SYSTEM. A. No person shall install or maintain an external alarm system which does not contain an operational automatic cutoff system which turns off the external audible alarm once activated after a period not to exceed 10 minutes. B. An automatic dialer connected directly to an emergency agency shall automatically disconnect and/or terminate its message after the message has been transmitted a maximum of two times. Notwithstanding the foregoing, however, the total transmission time of all messages shall not exceed five minutes. SECTION 6. DIRECT COMMUNICATION TO EMERGENCY AGENCY. There shall be no automatic alarm system with direct communication to any type of an emergency agency without prior written authorization from the emergency agency where the alarm terminates. SECTION 7. CHARGES FOR FALSE ALARMS. An owner or lessee of real property to which an emergency agency responds as a result of a false alarm shall pay a fee for each such response in each calendar year as follows: D. Police Department response. 4. First false alarm response: no charge. 5. Second false alarm response: $50. 6. Third or more false alarm responses: $100 each. E. Fire Department response. 4. First false alarm response: no charge. 5. Second false alarm response: $50. 6. Third or more false alarm responses: $100 each. F. EMS response. 4. First false alarm response: no charge. 5. Second false alarm response: $50. 6. Third or more false alarm responses: $100 each. SECTION 8. NOTICE OF EXCESSIVE USE. The owner or lessee of real property which received an emergency response by reason of a false alarm shall be notified, in writing, by means of first-class mail, of all false alarms, including police alarms, fire alarms, and/or EMS alarms, in a calendar year. The letter shall inform the owner or lessee of the times and types of emergency responses provided to the address location and, where applicable, contain a copy of the Alarm Code and notify the owner or lessee of any charges due pursuant to §35-7 of this chapter. 3