AP Council To Vote On Tougher Noise Penalties

The city council will decide today whether it will turn up the volume on people blasting their stereos all over the neighborhood by making bigger fines for them.

If a new law is approved, people who play their music too loudly can be fined up to $125 the first time they are heard from at least 100 feet away, up to $250 the second time and $500 every time afterward.

Currently, the state allows officers to issue a $74.50 citation to the noise makers when their stereos can be heard from more than 25 feet away.

Then-acting Police Chief Mike Rowan led a crackdown on the loud music-playing late February, with his officers issuing 19 citations for loud music or exhausts through early March.

The crackdown didn't mute the problem, however. In May, Avon Park resident Charles Devlin complained that he would continue hearing people playing their stereos from across Lake Tulane.

"Every single night without exceptions you hear loud music," Devlin told the council in a May meeting.

Noise violations are considered a non-criminal civil offense and involve fines but no further penalty such as points on a driver's license, Avon Park Police Chief Matt Doughney said at the May meeting. Since Devlin's complaint, the council sought to toughen the penalties.

The ordinance up for a vote today already passed a first reading by a 4-0 vote July 14. Council member George Hall was absent from that meeting. There was no opposition expressed during the first reading to the proposal.

The city council will also review its annual fire assessment rates.

Last year, these rates drew a sharp rebuke from some local churches, who were required for the first time to pay a partial fire assessment rate. In previous years, churches and non-profit institutions were exempt from the assessment.

According to city documents, the residential fire assessment rate has been estimated to be $165 per dwelling unit. For each commercial building, it would range from $133 to $6,652, depending on how large the building is.