Animal shelter to offer more discounts
Flexible prices aimed to spur more adoptions
The Porterville City Council agreed Tuesday to adjust the animal shelter adoption fees for special adoption events and other programs to encourage more pet adoptions.
Council was originally going to make a decision on the matter at its Feb. 7 meeting, but decided to postpone discussion due to Vice Mayor Brian Ward, who requested the item, being out with an illness.
Ward said he requested the item for council discussion after he was looking for a dog for his daughter at the Tulare County Animal Shelter and noticed that they had some flexibility in terms of how they were able to market some of the animals.
“They were able to, for dogs that had a difficult time being placed, discount those dogs and charge less,” Ward said. “Especially around Christmas time, they would have a special where they would discount the price of the dogs in order to try to get people in.”
At the city’s adoption shelter, the current adoption fee, which was established in May 2009, is $70. That amount was to assist in offsetting actual costs incurred by the city in providing animal adoption services. However, it is estimated that the actual adoption cost per animal is between $164 and $204, which, in addition to a $10 license fee the city charges, includes everything from spay, neuters, sheltering, microchipping and vaccinations. The price differs depending on the size of the animal and the gender, according to a city staff report.
Ward said he hopes the discounts will make it easier for dogs that are hard to adopt out.
“I know sometimes large dogs are harder to adopt out because they may be on the blacklist of insurances and so forth, but they still need homes,” Ward said. “We are doing a great job, but I really just think there are probably times in the year where it may be more difficult to adopt, and I think it [discounts] is just another tool in the tool bag.”
Mayor Milt Stowe said he couldn’t agree more.
“I think the goal is to try and get the animals adopted however we can do it,” he said.
Councilmember Martha Flores was also in favor.
“I think this is a great idea for events and to have the adoption process regulated during that time,” she said.
City Manager John Lollis said the discounts will give the animal shelter another opportunity to continue “a very positive trend,” which is to see less and less animals in the animal shelter, and higher adoption rates.
Porterville Police Chief Eric Kroutil also agreed with the idea, but felt the discounts should be given out periodically.
“It is not something that you would see on a very scheduled basis or a regular basis because then people would just wait for those events,” Kroutil said. In other matters:
approved an agreement with R. Stephen Richard Inc. for weed abatement services for a three-year term. approved the City Pool Concession License with SM Transit for exclusive use to the city pool concession building for fundraising concession sales. approved spring and fall cleanup events to take place on April 8 and Oct. 21. approved staff travel to Las Vegas for the purpose of attending the International Council of Shopping Centers conference at an estimated cost of $2,600. approved Monache High School AG/FFA Department Farmer’s Day and 5K run to take place from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, March 4, at Monache High School. appointed Virginia Gurrola to fill a vacancy on the Transactions and Use Tax (Measure H) Oversight Committee (TUTOC). agreed to the rescission of appointment of Richard Stadtherr to the city’s animal control commission and the Transaction and Use Tax Oversight Committee.