Cal City may increase its pet adoption fees

CALIFORNIA CITY — Faced with rising costs for veterinarian services, the California City City Council will discuss increasing the adoption fees it charges as part of the upcoming budget process.

The veterinarian the city uses to spay and neuter dogs and cats adopted out of the city’s animal shelter has raised its rates, effective Jan. 1, meaning the adoption fees charged will not cover the costs to the city, Police Chief Jesse Hightower said. (Animal Control is part of the Police Department.)

The proposed fees to cover the additional costs would more than double the cost to adopt a large dog, and increase adoption costs for cats by up to 80%. Costs vary for male or female animals, and for cats,

small dogs and large dogs.

Hightower provided figures, based on the past two years’ worth of adoption information, on how much money the city could lose if fees are not increased to meet costs.

With an average of 326 animals each year, the city would lose an average of $54,000 annually, he said. The figure would be greater if there are mostly large, female dogs.

“I’m trying to be as soft and empathetic as I possibly can with this,” Hightower said. “But in reality, the city is a business. In order not to lose money, at some point, you need to raise rates to basically come out even.”

Councilmember Karen Macedonio said, even at the maximum loss, the amount is not something so great that the city can’t absorb that until it can be discussed as part of the annual budget process.

“I don’t understand why we are having this discussion outside of a budget discussion, outside of a Master Fee Schedule discussion and outside of an ordinance change,” she said. “This is a band-aid on a wound.”

A discussion about the entirety of the animal shelter is what is needed to understand the problem and how best to address it, Macedonio said.

“This is just a small portion of the whole picture,” she said. “We should be discussing this … with the whole budget for the animal shelter.”

Resident Duane Vasquez said part of the consideration should be if a higher adoption cost would lead to fewer adoptions, and additional costs for keeping animals longer.

He also suggested looking at ways to keep from having so many animals in the shelter in need of adoption.

The Council should have a draft budget for the current fiscal year, which began, on July 1, for consideration, in two weeks, Interim City Manager Jim Hart said.