If you don’t have your pet licensed, you’d better do it before Oct. 1 or face a “no-tolerance” fine of at least $125.
Redmond is one of 27 cities and unincorporated communities that signed on to be part of a new King County plan that will share the cost of providing animal services, including sheltering and licensing.
King County Executive Dow Constantine was joined by several county mayors, including Redmond Mayor John Marchione, at a ceremonial signing in Seattle last week.
“Redmond participated in this successful effort,” Marchione said in a press release. “Staff from King County, Redmond and surrounding cities worked collaboratively to put a regional model in place to benefit all our constituents.”
CONTRACT THROUGH 2012
Redmond, along with the other participating cities, has signed a new 2 1/2-year contract, which went into effect July 1. Under the previous agreement, King County provided animal control, sheltering and licensing functions on behalf of 35 cities, in exchange for keeping all pet licensing revenue.
Under the new contract, cities would share the estimated $5.6 million, based on population and usage factors and pet licensing revenues of about $3.2 million a year would be credited to jurisdictions based on the residence of the person buying the license.
When it’s all said and done, Redmond will have to pay the county an estimated amount of $20,000 per year under the contract, including half that amount for animal services between July-December, according to Nina Rivkin, new policy advisor for the City of Redmond Mayor’s Office.
Under the new model, which has been renamed from “King County Animal Care and Control” to “Regional Animal Services of King County,” the cost for pet licenses for spayed animals will remain unchanged at $30 and will be reduced to $60 for an unaltered pet (the previous fee was $90). The new model changed King County code to institute “a no-tolerance fine for unlicensed pets in the county, with fines ranging from $125 for a spayed or neutered pet to $250 for an unaltered pet,” according to a King County press release.
The county has given residents an amnesty period until Oct. 1 to purchase a license for unlicensed pets without facing a fine.
Licensing money will go back toward the regional animal service, but most importantly, licensed pets who are lost can be found faster by reporting them to Regional Animal Services, Rivkin said.
“We want them to be licensed,” Rivkin said. “We want them to be found.”
Other benefits of King County pet licenses include:
• The first time your pet is found, King County will attempt to skip the shelter and deliver the pet to your home.
• Licensed pets have a longer stray hold at the shelter to give residents a chance to locate a lost pet before it is made available for adoption.
• The Vacation Pet Alert Program allows residents to provide contact information for a pet’s caretaker while they are away so that King County will have the correct contact information if something happens while the owner cannot be reached.
• Pet license fees fund programs that help thousands of homeless animals in King County find new homes each year and pay for services such as spay/neuter programs.
Residents can order a pet license or renew a license online at www.kingcounty.gov/pets. Residents can also find local businesses that are selling pet licenses at www.kingcounty.gov/pets. In addition, within the next month, the city will sell pet licenses at City Hall and the Old Redmond Schoolhouse Community Center, Rivkin said.
The county will be the manager of the new model while the participating cities will help provide money and awareness for the new regional plan.
City workers will be passing out brochures about the new Regional Animal Services at Derby Days this weekend, said Rivkin, who added that the city Web site, www.redmond.gov, will have a link to www.kingcounty.gov/pets.
“We will partner with King County to promote the new program and increase awareness,” Rivkin said.
COST SAVER?
Under the regional model, King County will be divided into four animal control districts, each staffed by at least one animal control officer. The county’s Kent Animal Shelter will remain open, having absorbed animals and staff from the closure of the smaller facility at Crossroads in June. The change will provide increased staff attention to animals at the Kent Animal Shelter. The county projects that the Kent Animal Shelter, staff and volunteers will serve about 8,000 homeless and lost animals in 2010.
The new model for animal control services comes after the county announced last year it could not afford to continue such services under the old model. In addition, the county was losing about $2 million a year despite the collection of license fees.
Rivkin said the city has guarded optimism about the new model because the city is a “very low user of services.” The city will review the results once the contract has expired. According to city documents, the three-year average for animal control calls are 268, which is below average compared to other cities.
An advisory group, comprised of three county representatives and one city representative will review and make recommendations on operational and policy issues. The county will provide the city with reports at least twice a year, summarizing call response and system usage data for each city and the county.
Once the city crunches the numbers, “it might be more cost-effective to do it ourselves,” Rivkin said.
But any changes won’t happen until 2013 once the contract ends.
“Regional cooperation has been the key to redesigning King County’s animal care and control system,” said Constantine. “Each of the 27 partners in this effort has contributed to shaping the final product and we look forward to working toward better care at lower cost over the two-and-a-half years of the city contracts.”
