Jan. 4--BRISTOL, Tenn. -- About 85 percent of all automatic alarm system calls that summon city police, fire and emergency services turn out to be false, according to data collected by the city.

To help those emergency departments recoup expenses for more than 1,250 false alarms a year, the City Council on Tuesday will consider reducing the allowable false alarms and adopting service fees for calls above that number.

"Obviously, no verification is required for fire, holdup, duress or panic alarms," Police Chief Blaine Wade said. "A lot of times, an alarm can trigger because of equipment failure. We send them out in good faith on any call. But you get the police department, fire department and EMS responding to this many false alarms and it gets costly."

City Manager Jeffrey Broughton, in a memo to council members, said the ordinance changes will give the city a tool to "reduce undesirable false alarms" and "enhance public safety response and resources."

The alarms in question are mechanical devices that, when activated, automatically call 911 or the alarm or security service that monitors the device. The ordinance amendment on the agenda Tuesday would not apply to emergency telephone calls.

Currently, the city's ordinance states that a violation occurs when a system issues three false alarms in a 30-day period, or eight in 12 months.

Wade said the ordinance is "extremely lenient." He said the police and fire departments in 2008 responded to 1,461 alarms, of which 201 had "any significance."