What a false alarm actually costs, by city
Seven Dallas-Fort Worth cities, their alarm permit fees, and the point at which each one starts charging. The dollar figures look identical because the state caps them. The tier boundaries and the side charges do not, and that is where the money is.
Checked against each city's published material on 12 September 2026. Ordinances change. Confirm anything you are about to act on with the city.
| Dallas | Fort Worth | Arlington | Plano | Irving | Garland | Frisco | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Permit, commercial | $100 | $100 | $50 | $100 | $50 | See city fee schedule | $100 |
| Permit, residential | $50 | $50 | $50 | $50 | $50 | See city fee schedule | $35 |
| Free per 12 months | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| First paid tier | $50 | $50 | $50 | $50 | $50 | $50 | $50 |
| Second tier | $75 | $75 | $75 | $75 | $75 | $75 | $75 |
| Top tier | $100 | $100 | $100 | $100 | $100 | $100 | $100 |
| Top tier starts at | 9th | 8th | 8th | 8th | 8th | 8th | 8th |
Why the three numbers are the same everywhere
Texas sets the ceiling. Local Government Code section 214.197 limits what a large municipality may charge for a false alarm: $50 while the count is low, $75 in the middle band, and $100 once a site has eight or more in the preceding twelve months. Every city here has taken the cap as the schedule.
What each city chooses for itself is the permit fee, where the tier boundaries fall, and what happens to alarms that are not burglar alarms. Those choices are not small. A false robbery alarm in Plano costs $200. A false fire alarm in Garland costs $150. Dallas gives you one extra alarm before the top tier. Irving will revoke the permit outright at twelve.
The city pages
Dallas
Dallas is the outlier in the metroplex. Its $50 band runs to the sixth false alarm rather than the fifth, so a Dallas site reaches the $100 tier one alarm later than a site in Plano or Arlington.
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 is the cheapest permit in the group at $50 for a commercial site, and it is the only one in this set that writes a response time into the definition of a false alarm.
Plano
Plano charges $200 for a false robbery alarm past the second one, four times what a burglar alarm costs at the same point. If your staff can reach a hold-up button by accident, that is where the money goes.
Irving
Irving puts a hard number on the point of no return. Twelve false alarms in twelve months and the permit can be pulled, which then puts you in the no-permit category rather than just the expensive one.
Garland
Garland is the one to watch if you have a fire panel. $150 per false fire alarm past the second is the highest recurring charge in this comparison, and fire panels in older buildings trip on dust and humidity.
Frisco
Frisco has the cheapest residential permit in the group at $35, and it states suspension as a live consequence at the top tier rather than leaving it to discretion further down the ordinance.
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. Ask about a review.
Not on this list?
Cities get added as they are verified. Nothing goes on this page that has not been checked against the city's own published material, which is why there are seven here and not thirty. If your city is missing and you want it checked, say so.