ATB (Alarm Tracking & Billing)—a Colorado-based company which manages alarm systems for New Jersey municipalities including Rahway, Montclair, Englewood, Hillside, and Middle Township—gave an overview of its services to the Borough Council last week.

In Rahway, ATB has structured a system that gives residents two free false alarm responses and charges them $50 each from three to five responses, $100 from six to 10, and $250 from 11 and up. There is a $25 alarm registration fee for homes and a $50 fee for businesses. The first step in the process for Fair Lawn would be passing a new alarm ordinance that converts residents' false alarm fees from summonses to bills and allows the borough to charge residents alarm registration fees.

Homeowners: How do you feel about the possibility of Fair Lawn contracting out alarm management to ATB? Would you pay a $25 fee to register your alarm? For those who have had false alarms at home, what kind of fees have you accrued and how do those fees stack up with what you would have paid if a system like ATB's was in place?

Tell us how you think Fair Lawn should bill residents for false alarms. You can voice your opinion in the "Leave A Comment" field at the bottom of this page. If you aren't comfortable with commenting on this website, you can email your thoughts—as well as suggestion for future "Question of the Week" topics—to jacob.kamaras@patch.com.