In a seemingly noble effort to avoid raising taxes, the Capital Regional District (CRD) board has missed the mark.
The CRD’s Electoral Areas Committee recommended, and the board approved, the first increase in 12 years to the fees for licensing dogs: from $25 to $40 for spayed or neutered animals, and from $45 to $60 for “unaltered” dogs.
The notion that “everything costs more” is a familiar one, and between staff, food, supplies and veterinary fees a budget shortfall was believably inevitable. And there is a similar consensus that Animal Care Services do important work, both in helping lost dogs find their way home and in finding new homes for animals who don’t seem to have safe ones.
But the latter now represents more than half the number that come into the shelter, according to CRD staff, a percentage that is rising versus the licensed dogs impounded each year. Unclaimed animals, for obvious reasons, produce no opportunity to collect revenue from their owners; instead, the program’s funding comes largely from licences, paid by responsible pet owners, and impound fees — often paid by those same owners when something goes wrong.
Before this week, it was difficult to imagine dog owners becoming any less incentivized to licence their animals, rules notwithstanding, but here we are.
Apart from a charitable desire to help wayward animals, the biggest selling point of the “dog tag” has been that licensed dogs have an opportunity to be brought home rather than impounded immediately — presumably avoiding shelter fees should staff be able to quickly connect with the licence holder. And, as staff made clear, the likelihood for a bylaw enforcement action once that dog is brought home remains, as any wandering animal’s “improperly controlled” designation would seem nearly indisputable.
Animal Care Services deserve more funding, and it is reasonable to expect a fee increase for virtually any service that hasn’t implemented one in a dozen years. But it is far less reasonable to saddle only the more conscientious subset of dog owners with the financial burden of caring for all lost and abandoned animals. A 60 per cent administrative increase to avoid an inarguably smaller property tax increase — to provide an important underfunded service that benefits everyone — is politically expedient, and wrong.