By Vicki Newton
A new funding arrangement in the works with the region’s 11 municipalities has the Humane Society of Ottawa-Carleton licking its chops.
When Ottawa-Carleton regional council decided in the spring to discontinue its annual $357,000 grant, the society turned to the municipalities to make up the shortfall.
But, that is likely to be a benefit to the society, which has been chronically underfunded. The Humane Society stands to gain an increase of $50,000 because the municipalities have agreed with the $407,000 the society has proposed for pound services over the past three years.
Lisa Danso-Coffey, executive director of Humane Society, is enthusiastic about the increase the society may see in its funding as a result.
“Finally, we’ll be paid for what we do and all the services we provide and it’s an incentive for municipalities to implement new bylaws and crack down on existing bylaws because it’ll mean less cost to them if less animals show up at the pound.”
Under the user-fee contracts, individual municipalities will be expected to fund the society on a monthly basis beginning Jan. 1, when funding by the region will stop. The amount for each will depend on how many animals come from each area because the stray animals are initially property of the municipality.
Danso-Coffey says because half of the animals in the pound come from the city of Ottawa, Ottawa can expect to pay nearly $204,000 of the total $407,000 amount.
Each municipality has presented or is in the process of presenting the individual contracts to their respective municipal councils.
Danso-Coffey says all 11 municipalities have given every indication that the user-fee system will be approved by their councils by Dec. 1.
Susan Jones, manager of bylaw services for the city of Nepean, says Nepean and Vanier are among the municipalities with contract approval. Jones says under the new user-fee system, Nepean can expect to pay about $49,000 for its share of animals that come to the pound.
The contracts are being negotiated for one year so both parties can evaluate the process. Multi-year contracts may be considered.
Danso-Coffey says the Humane Society will give the cities records of the number of animals and that money should then be forwarded by each municipality.
“The municipalities were getting all the revenue from dog tags, licenses and so on but never had to contribute to the pound services, so now, this takes the pressure off the region having to pay for everything,” says Regional Coun. Robert van den Ham, who supported the municipality funding.
Municipalities first hired a Toronto animal control consultant to study alternatives to the Humane Society.
“The consultant told the municipalities that they were getting a good bang for their buck,” says Danso-Coffey.
Almost 6,000 strays were brought to the pound in 1996, up 1,000 from the year before.