City sticking with humane society
Dilkens says deal ‘reasonable compromise’
The Windsor-Essex County Humane Society will continue providing animal control for the city — though partly with donations.
At city budget time, the local humane society shocked council when it asked for a 22 per cent increase in funding for Year 1 of a proposed five-year contract. So council started shopping around for a better price, which could have meant a reduction in services.
“We felt it wasn’t fair to ask our donors to subsidize municipal services, so that’s why we put in a higher bid,” humane society executive director Melanie Coulter said Monday. “But we want those services to continue in Windsor.
“So we talked to our donors and said, ‘Are you willing to continue supporting those services?’ And they said ‘yes,’ so that’s why we reduced the bid.”
In the meantime, city administration looked at five alternative options, including hiring services in Lakeshore. But Coulter said cats would not have been taken care of, and that the humane society wanted to make sure enough animal services continued in Windsor.
Mayor Drew Dilkens later invited Coulter to a meeting in February, when they agreed in principle to have the city increase its annual funding two per cent a year over five years for a total of 10 per cent.
Council agreed to the new plan Monday night.
Currently, the Windsor-Essex County Humane Society operates on a $2.5-million annual budget. Starting July 1, the city will pay about $922,000 a year, which will increase for the next five years. The humane society will fund raise to make up a shortfall, which could be almost $100,000.
“We are committed to maintaining the level of services we put in the original bid,” Coulter said. “We had hoped the city would agree to a contract that would cover all the costs of those services. Ultimately, that’s not what happened but we’re going to continue to provide those services.”
Dilkens feels a happy medium was found.
“Tonight I think you saw a very reasonable compromise from the city and the humane society,” he said. “What we agreed to in principle in my office was that there was a path forward that wasn’t going to put a 22 per cent increase on taxpayers on Year 1, recognizing that we need to probably provide a little bit more funding to the humane society.”
Some drama that had surfaced over the last few months, when humane society supporters worried that animals would suffer more if the city went for a cheaper bid from the county, resurfaced at Monday’s meeting.
Coun. Hilary Payne took issue with an April 4 letter that the humane society sent to its members, warning that the city could potentially send animal control to the county. Payne pointed out that the administration report recommended a five-year contract with the Windsor-Essex County Humane Society — which he said the letter did not mention.
“That was 100 per cent wrong and misleading,” Payne said. “What was your justification for that?”
Coulter said that administration recommendations concerning the humane society have been disregarded by council in the past. And since five other options were on the table, her organization had a duty to warn its members of the possibilities.
“It was rather unfortunate,” Payne said. “This council has been so supportive of the humane society.”