Animal control costs rising

By July, Spokane’s animal control costs are expected to have tripled since December.

SpokAnimal C.A.R.E., which informed the city about two years ago that it planned to stop performing animal control services, plans to charge the city $50,000 a month starting in July – nearly three times the $17,000 the city paid monthly until December, when the cost increased to $38,000. The organization’s contract with the city also allows SpokAnimal to keep licensing fees, which totaled about $400,000 in 2006.

SpokAnimal’s desire to get out of the animal control business has been a hot issue among city leaders who have debated whether the city should join the Spokane County Regional Animal Protection Service or create its own city system to perform the task, perhaps in partnership with other cities.

Some council members favor using the county. Mayor Dennis Hession has said that a new city service likely would be cheaper – though his staff recently has entered into talks with the county.

“There’s not a lot of options,” said Spokane’s Public Works Director Dave Mandyke, who oversees the city’s animal control contract. “It’s not like we have 10 providers out there who will bid against each other.”

The city and county have flirted with the idea of combining their efforts into one system for at least a decade, Mandyke said.

A new round of discussions started this month, and Mandyke said they are the “most productive” they’ve had. County Commissioner Mark Richard echoed Mandyke’s hopefulness. Richard said he would be hesitant to lower SCRAPS’s service level to make it cheaper for Spokane, but several options will be considered. Spokane Valley officials, who contract with SCRAPS and have complained about the price, also will participate in discussions.

The Spokane City Council is expected to consider the new SpokAnimal contract in the coming weeks. In March, the council rejected a 10-month contract for $38,000 a month, saying they wanted to put pressure on Hession to find a long-term solution. They instead signed a three-month contract with the same price.

SCRAPS director Nancy Hill said the $50,000-a-month price is getting closer to what the city would pay the county.

A county study estimated it would cost about $1.3 million a year for the city to combine with SCRAPS. About a third of that money would be covered by animal licenses and fees under the current structure.

When the new contract was presented to City Council this week, members instructed Mandyke to negotiate a longer term to see if the price will fall. Mandyke said he hopes to get an answer from SpokAnimal later this week.

Councilman Brad Stark, the most vocal critic of the mayor on animal control, said he’s glad the council went with a short contract, even if it means the city will pay more.

“If we would have not done a three-month contract, (the city and county) would not be talking now,” Stark said. “Keeping this issue on the forefront and off the back burner is the only way we’re going to see resolution.”

But Hession said the result of the shorter contract wasn’t quicker action, just a higher price.

“This is a consequence of deciding not to approve that earlier contact,” Hession said.

Mandyke told the council this week that the mayor has agreed to abide by the council’s January directive to seek bids for handling the city’s animal control needs. Hession earlier argued it would be a waste of time since no other agency has expressed interest.

“We’re just trying to prove our statement that we don’t think we have any providers,” Mandyke said.