The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Animal control suspended in Atlanta
The county has cut off service within city limits over a contract issue.
As of 5 p.m. Friday, Fulton County and its nonprofit partner LifeLine Animal Services will stop answering calls for animal control within Atlanta city limits, county officials announced Friday afternoon.
The cutoff is because Atlanta has, for months, failed to agree to a doubling increase in cost, $6.4 million a year. All other cities in Fulton County have agreed to pay more, which is the actual cost of providing the service to them, county commission Chairman Robb Pitts said during a Friday news conference.
“Despite months of discussions and ongoing good-faith efforts on the part of Fulton County, the city of Atlanta still has not provided a signed intergovernmental agreement to Fulton County for animal services as of this afternoon,” Pitts said. Talks with city officials have indicated it could be May before that agreement is approved — and the county can’t wait any longer, Pitts said.
A spokesperson for Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The previous agreement expired Jan. 1. The county continued answering animal control calls in Atlanta for three months “in good faith” while talks continued, Pitts said.
“But we cannot continue to do so. Therefore as of today ... responsibility for animal services within the city of Atlanta will revert to the city of Atlanta,” he said.
County Manager Dick Anderson said calls from within Atlanta will be routed to the city’s 911 center, which knows they’re coming. Atlanta police will likely be tasked with responding, he said.
At their March 20 meeting, county commissioners voted to cut off animal control to Atlanta on April 3 if the city didn’t respond. County Attorney Y. Soo Jo told commissioners that providing
service without a contract left the county open to legal liability.
Pitts said the county will be glad to reconsider the cutoff as soon as an agreement is signed.
Atlanta received the new agreement in October, and all 14 other cities in the county signed similar major cost increases, Pitts said.
It’s unfair to ask residents of all the other cities in Fulton County to subsidize services in Atlanta, which accounts for 55% of animal calls, Pitts said.
Through a contract with nonprofit LifeLine Animal Services, the county provides animal control countywide. Though costs have risen, the charges to cities hadn’t gone up in five or six years.
The county is not passing on any of the cost of its new, $40 million animal shelter to cities in the agreements, and neither Fulton County nor LifeLine is profiting from animal control, Pitts said.
“These costs reflect only the true cost of service,” Pitts said.
Commissioner Dana Barrett, whose district includes much of Atlanta, said the county had no choice. In months of talks the city angled for a discount, which she called “shocking and disappointing.” That included asking for free real estate, and more money for programs on which the county likely will collaborate anyway, Barrett said.
In holding the price steady for the past few years even as actual costs rose, the county essentially gave Atlanta and other cities a discount already, she said.
Barrett said she doesn’t know if Atlanta is capable of suddenly providing its own animal control services.
The county is ready to restart service with a new legal agreement, but it’s possible the city could contract animal control out to some other provider, she said.