Camarillo Animal Shelter Costs Rise while Revenues Fall

Photo Credit: Ventura County Animal Services

erectile arial, order sans-serif;”>By Logan McFadden

vcialis 40mg arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;”>Camarillo’s “no kill” animal shelter contracts with Ventura County for operational and administrative services.  At the June 22^nd Camarillo City Council meeting, council members voted unanimously to continue the relationship.  Aside-by-side comparison of a potential independent city-run shelter was not presented.

Camarillo is allocated both fixed (70%) and variable (30%) costs.  Based upon fiscal year 2015, the $4.6 million county budget divided by 10,820 sheltered animals results in an average cost of $427.00 per animal.

Councilmember Charlotte Craven postulated that $427 may be too much for animals that “people don’t want”.  Said differently, pet owners who pay license fees, vet and food bills and provide a safe and secure environment for their pets may believe they should not be taxed to support unwanted animals.  

Animal services also include returning a lost pet to its owner without an overnight stay at the shelter.  This presumes that the pet has proper identification and licensing. Any pet immediately returned to its owner reduces the intake volume at the local shelter.

Councilmember Kevin Kildee noted that pet adoptions have increased but the community needs to work on enhancing revenue through door-to-door fund raising and reaching new shelter donors.  Bottom line, Mr. Kildee concluded “no kill just costs more money”.  He solidly supports Ventura’ County’s no kill shelters.

Logan McFadden is a Citizensjournal.us city reporter and a recently retired banker, residing in Camarillo.  He volunteers for the Heritage Action Sentinel team and serves as the AMAC Delegate to the 26^th Congressional District.