Council OKs costlier pet licenses
The cost of licenses for dogs and cats in Spokane will go up this month.
The City Council on Monday unanimously approved new annual license fees of $8 for cats and $13 for dogs if the animals are sterilized, increases of 50 cents for cats and $1 for dogs. The fees match those charged in Spokane County and Spokane Valley.
Much steeper increases were approved for nonsterilized pets. In that category, cat licenses will cost $25 and dog licenses will cost $50 a year, up from $13 and $23, respectively.
SpokAnimal C.A.R.E., which provides animal control services under contract to the city, has asked for more money to offset rising costs of fuel, utilities and health care benefits for workers.
The city is separately seeking a contract extension with SpokAnimal through the end of October. The city may eventually switch to a new animal control system, possibly by contracting with Spokane County’s animal control agency.
Animal control includes resolving problems of barking dogs, nuisance animals and cases of animal cruelty. Agency officials estimate that about 40 percent of dog owners and 15 percent of cat owners buy licenses.
Councilman Bob Apple said of the higher fees, “I believe it’s a good balance that’s been arranged.”
License fees are reduced by half for low-income, elderly residents and for residents with disabilities.
Human services get funding
Also Monday, the council approved a compromise proposal to increase funding for several human service agencies that had been denied grants for 2006, in part because they submitted insufficient applications.
On a 6-1 vote, council members agreed to spend an additional $198,800 to assist five agencies that provide services to low-income residents in 10 programs. The services provided include health care and a meal program downtown.
“It is not a handout,” said former Mayor Sheri Barnard, who works for the YWCA, which will receive grant funding for its school for homeless children. “It is well earned, and we will use it wisely.”
Councilman Brad Stark voted against the spending because, he said, the city faces a potential budget shortage of $11 million by 2008.
Several council members had been seeking an additional $223,000 for the grant program but were forced to reduce that amount to $198,800 after other council members said they were concerned about the city’s potential budget problems.
The amount of the annual grants was cut from $1.1 million to $767,000 earlier this year. Monday’s vote restored a portion of that cut.
“This helps people break out of the vicious cycle” of poverty, said Councilwoman Mary Verner in supporting the additional spending.
Human services advocates said the city should maintain a commitment from several years ago to spend 1 percent of the general fund on human services grants, or about $1.2 million to $1.3 million a year.