What a false alarm costs in eleven Texas cities
Eleven Texas cities, their alarm permit fees, and the point at which each one starts charging. Compare Dallas-Fort Worth, Austin, San Antonio and Houston. Grand Prairie keeps one paid burglar tier before suspension; other cities climb through three. The separate alarm counts matter just as much.
Houston checked on 17 October 2026. Other cities checked on 14 September 2026. Ordinances change. Confirm anything you are about to act on with the city.
Calculate false burglar alarm costs.
The table compares annual burglar alarm permits and false burglar alarms at permitted sites over twelve months. San Antonio requires a separate commercial fire permit; Grand Prairie also offers combined burglar and fire permits.
| Dallas | Fort Worth | Arlington | Plano | Irving | Garland | Frisco | Grand Prairie | Austin | San Antonio | Houston | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Permit, commercial | $100 | $100 | $50 | $100 | $50 | $100 | $100 | $50 | $110 | $200 | $167.84 |
| Permit, residential | $50 | $50 | $50 | $50 | $50 | $50 | $35 | $30 | $50 | $50 | $50 |
| Free per 12 months | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| First paid tier | $50 | $50 | $50 | $50 | $50 | $50 | $50 | $50 | $50 | $50 | $50 |
| Second paid tier | $75 | $75 | $75 | $75 | $75 | $75 | $75 | None | $75 | $75 | $75 |
| Top paid tier | $100 | $100 | $100 | $100 | $100 | $100 | $100 | $50 | $100 | $100 | $100 |
| Top tier starts at | 9th | 8th | 8th | 8th | 8th | 8th | 8th | Suspension at the 11th | 8th | 8th | 8th |
Scroll for all eleven Texas cities
The burglar fee is only part of the bill
Most cities here use $50, $75 and $100 burglar tiers. Dallas keeps the first paid tier through the sixth false alarm. Grand Prairie keeps $50 through the tenth, then lists suspension at the eleventh. There is no single schedule to copy across a portfolio.
Plano charges $200 for each false robbery or fire alarm past the second. Garland charges $150 for a false fire alarm past the second. San Antonio starts charging for silent alarms on the second call. Irving may revoke a permit after more than twelve false alarms in twelve months, at the chief's discretion.
The city pages
Dallas-Fort Worth
Dallas
Dallas keeps its $50 band through the sixth false burglar alarm. A site reaches the $100 tier one alarm later than a site in Plano or Arlington. Panic and hold-up alarms have a separate count, with business fees reaching $400.
Fort Worth
Fort Worth runs the standard tier boundaries and adds a separate, cheaper count for manually activated alarms. A site with a sticky panic button under a counter is paying into a different column than its burglar alarms.
Arlington
Arlington charges $50 a year for a commercial or residential permit. Its false alarm definition includes a response within 30 minutes, and the one-year count starts on the date of the first false alarm.
Plano
Plano charges $200 for a false robbery alarm past the second one, and the same $200 for a false fire alarm past the second. A burglar alarm at the same point costs $50. If your staff can reach a hold-up button by accident, that is where the money goes.
Irving
In Irving, the thirteenth false alarm in twelve months can put the permit at risk. The chief may revoke it at that point, but revocation is discretionary. A valid permit is required for police alarm response.
Garland
Garland counts false fire alarms separately from burglar alarms. The first two in twelve months are free, then each one costs $150. A site with both systems needs to track both counts.
Frisco
Frisco charges $35 a year for a residential permit. At eight or more false burglar alarms, each one costs $100 and the permit may be suspended. Robbery, panic, fire and medical alarms each have their own count.
Grand Prairie
Grand Prairie stays at $50 from the fourth false burglar alarm through the tenth. The eleventh brings suspension. Budgeting for a higher fee misses what happens next: the permit itself is at risk.
Austin
Austin
Austin charges $110 a year for a commercial permit and $250 per complex for an apartment complex principal permit. Panic and robbery alarms share a separate count: two free in twelve months, then $100 each.
San Antonio
San Antonio
A San Antonio business needs a $200 police alarm permit and a separate $200 fire alarm permit. A residence pays $50 for both. Silent false alarms start costing money on the second call: $200, then $300, $400 and $500 each after that.
Houston
Houston
Houston lists an administrative fee with commercial alarm permits. Its burglar schedule has three free false alarms, then paid tiers. The permit is subject to revocation and no police response after the seventh false burglar alarm.
Three things this table cannot tell you. Which of your sites currently hold valid permits, where in the count each one sits today, and what is actually tripping them. Those are the three questions a review answers, and the answer is almost always in the call list, the monitoring contract, or panel programming nobody has opened since installation.
We work on the paper and the policy. We do not install, service or monitor anything. See what a review covers, or ask about one.
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