County Support for the Animal Shelter

Yesterday I met with Stacie Haynes, Exec Dir of the Susquehanna Animal Shelter (SAS), and Gaylord Dillingham (Board member) and his wife Nicole Dillingham (who has done legal work for SAS over the years).  I sent this message to the Health and Education committee, which I'm on, and the Chair of the Public Safety and Legal Affairs Committee, because I think the issue, as it involves us, impacts public health and public safety.  I also thought you might like an idea of what we're up to regarding the animal shelter:


After meeting for an hour and a half, I think I have the beginnings of an idea of how animal control works between the Towns and SAS.  I can go into it in more detail (and some of you are already ahead of me) at the meeting if you'd like.  The point is, I think that since the County has an official authority which can remove animals from a home (Sheriff) then we have some obligation in terms of providing for the animals that are removed.  In addition, we have legal responsibilities regarding public health, and we also need to take on the obligations that result from the animal control part of that.

In short:
 - SAS is the only facility in the County that we can partner with to fulfill certain specific legal obligations
 - In no other cases do we expect our partners to pay the cost of fulfilling our obligations.

Suggestion: that we enter into a contract with SAS and establish a line item in the budget to fund the contract.  Funds would be used to:

1.  First and foremost, to reimburse SAS for all costs incurred through care of seized animals by any law enforcement in the County - costs that are not, in the end, reimbursed through other means (owners, towns, etc.). 
2.  Support the daily costs of keeping SAS open and available 24/7 - since we need to use the shelter, we have some obligation to help keep it open, so it's there for us to use.
3.  Assist SAS in keeping the surrender fee low, or perhaps even lowering it.  The current fee - $40 - reflects the fact that over half of those who surrender animals do not pay the fee (the only way to force an owner to pay a fee is to refuse the animal; ethically, this would not be possible, since the animal would probably be killed or abandoned).  So those who are willing to pay the fee are shouldering the cost of those who do not.  If there were no safe place to take an animal to surrender it, you can imagine the public health crisis that would ensue.  I think by supporting SAS we appropriately spread this cost over all the County taxpayers - the people who benefit from a healthier and safer environment.

The number we talked about yesterday was $50,000.

We can talk more at the next Health and Ed meeting.

Thanks -

Gary