Commissioners OK tiered dog adoption fee schedule at the Richland County Dog Shelter

The Richland County Commissioners have approved a new tiered adoption fee schedule at the county dog shelter that officials hope will move dogs through the facility quicker and find homes for those that have been housed there for a long time.

Dog Warden Missy Houghton told the board on Tuesday that she hopes the change will overcome what is a nationwide trend that is seeing dogs come into shelters quicker and stay longer, resulting in the county facility exceeding capacity.

Houghton said the shelter is overpopulated with 119 dogs and just 101 kennels with the extra dogs being housed in various alternate locations within the building. In an April 6 report to the board, she noted that the shelter had two dogs that had been there over one year, 22 that had been there over six months, 25 over three months and 44 under three months.

Houghton proposed an adoption fee schedule of $50 for the dogs over one year, $100 for those over 6 months, $125 for the over three month animals and $150 for those at the shelter under three months. The normal fee is $175 per dog, which includes a spay or neuter of the dog, the dog license, a microchip, a first round of vaccines, de-worming, flea and tick treatment if they are seen on the dog, and medical treatment of the dog if staff are aware of the need.

Houghton said the reduced adoption fees still will include those services.

“We’re hoping to move some of these guys through to get some of our long timers out, which in turn will reduce the ones that we have that are showing some poor behavior issues,” Houghton said. “They just have pent up energy from being in their kennels too long.”

Volunteers play a key role in shelter operations

Houghton told the board that lowering the number of dogs will give breaks to and reduce stress on the staff, who start cleaning at 8:30 a.m. and sometimes don’t finish until nearly 4 p.m. She said a reduced shelter population also will reduce stress on volunteers.

“We have volunteers who come in every day and walk the dogs so we can ensure that every dog gets out of their kennel every single day and then we rotate the dogs out to the play area,” Houghton said. “We’re trying to look at ways to move them (the dogs) through so that we can ensure the best time in the shelter and just a better stay overall.”

Houghton noted that 1,017 dogs came through the shelter in 2022 including 448 that were adopted and 432 that were “redeemed” by their owners. The average stay was 22 days at an average cost of $15.69 per day. The figure does not include costs covered by donations, which would bring the total to $18.56 per day.

New tiered fees will impact budget

Houghton said that while the tiered adoption approach will mean the estimated loss of $25,000 in revenue, she is expecting the shelter budget can sustain the loss with the shortened length of stay.

"We’ve cut everywhere that we can cut and we get everything donated that we can get donated to save our budget as much as we can,” she added.

Houghton pointed out that the shelter has not had to buy dog food since she became dog warden in 2021.

Before the board approved the tiered fee structure, Commissioner Tony Vero asked Houghton to submit a new budget summary showing revised figures.

"Among our departments they probably have had the most substantive changes, so we’ll see what the budget is looking like,” he said.

'No kill' policy remains - for now

Houghton and the commissioners were asked if the county would, at some point, have to reconsider the shelter’s “no kill” policy if the overcrowding continues.

“We’re going to continue to do everything we can to maintain what we would call a no kill dog warden, so we’re not even entertaining that possibility right now,” Vero said. “We’ll never say never, but that’s why I think we have such good community support is the ability to maintain that status and I think this is an attempt by Missy to get creative and proactive to ensure that we maintain that status.”

Houghton noted that the policy also is that the shelter does not adopt out dangerous dogs, those that are behaviorally unsound and those that a vet determines is suffering or is medically necessary.

Commissioners delayed a separate scheduled discussion on possible changes to the shelter’s return policy after Houghton said she needed to do more research. The current policy allows a person to return a dog within 10 days if it shows signs of aggression or terminal illness or at the discretion of the dog warden.

Commissioners OK new maintenance projects

Commissioners also met Tuesday with County Maintenance Supervisor Josh Hicks and agreed to spend $23,394 from the county capital improvement fund to have Koorsen Fire and Security replace a circuit board in the fire suppression system at the county jail and reprogram the system. When asked how the jail is dealing with inmate safety in the interim, Hicks said, “They’re getting by.”

The board also approved requests by Hicks to replace one door at the auto title department and three at the People’s Building at a total cost of $8,394 and to advertise to hire one seasonal employee who will work this summer on mowing and other maintenance projects at a pay rate of $15 per hour.

Vero also said he received an e-mail from a county resident who said the administration building “never looked better” now that replacements have been installed for the building’s original globe lights on the front portico. He also pointed out that the building now has a working clock on the north face.

This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Richland County commissioners OK new dog adoption fee schedule