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Show Davis Co. mulls decision on L animal control contracts 4 F -w- By JANIS CARTER Clipper Correspondent FRUIT HEIGHTS Just "how much is that doggie in the window?" city officials in Davis County are asking as it comes time to renew their animal control con-trol contracts. Up until one year ago the county paid totally for the animal control services through a special animal control con-trol tax. In 1989 a new funding plan was adopted for the cities, in which the total cost of the animal control program pro-gram is divided in half. Davis County funds one-half of the total cost for animal control from revenues generated ge-nerated from the sale of dog licenses and fees from the general fund. Each city pays its pro rata share on one-half of the cost based upon the number of items of service it received in 1988. Fruit Heights will be paying $6,058.56 this year for the services which is just under three percent of the combined cities' share to pay, a spokesman said. Whereas the city officials feel they could not get better service for that amount of money elsewhere, they also feel the county has passed on to the cities something they could no longer fund by themselves. Rather than taking the heat of raising taxes, they "politically threw the ball into our court," said Fruit Height's Mayor Blaine Nelson. Layton will be paying $47,775 for its contract this year, with Kaysville expected to pay $20,000, Bountiful Boun-tiful $25,820, Farmington $7,614, Syracuse $6,825, CentervUle $9,384 and West Point $4,095. Kaysville is the only city that has not yet signed an animal control agreement for 1991 with the county. City officials have held out until a county official attends at-tends council meeting and answers some questions the city council members have about animal control department policies and procedures. The council members are also concerned about the continuation of cost sharing for animal control. Under the agreement, the county provides an animal control program and facility. Included in the service is routine patrol coverage, between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday and round-the-clock emergency emergen-cy response. County officials also handle impounds at the Davis (ounty shelter in Fruit Heights of critters found in violation of animal-control laws. The shelter handles in excess of 10,000 animals a year, more than any other public animal control center in Utah said DeAnne Hess, director of animal control. The shelter has an exam room, a medical quarantine " ' room and adoption kennels. In addition, all the animals are kept in individual cages with an air exchange system that cuts down on disease. Mayor Brit Howard indicated the position of Kays- ville is that animal control is a function of the county and the county should pay the total costs for the pro- gram. Kaysville City Manager John Thacker noted that -Kaysville would probably eventually participate in the i county animal control program. "The cost to the city when the agreement is finalized -will be pro-rated back to the first of the year," Thacker noted. 'This is what we did last year. ' Some of the cities signed the contract with a letter attached asking the county to consider taking over the total funding again. County Commissioner J.Del Holbrook said there was a possibility the county would take over the full funding again, but from his point of view he thought the present plan was working very well. Holbrook has not been able to ascertain where there was a county tax levied for animal control, so the cities should not be thinking they have been double taxed for animal control. Three cities in the county, Sunset, Nor-th Nor-th Salt Lake and Woods Cross, have their own animal control program or contracts with another city for this service. "Shelters are wonderful," said Wendy, of the North Salt Lake City animal control department. "People are not really aware of what a great service the shelters are. They are humane cages that people can rent. ' ' "Many times cats are mistaken for strays and ; trapped. They are then taken to the shelter. If a cat is de-termined de-termined wild, it will not be adopted out, but will be -euthanized," she said. "When a dog is picked up, it is only about three to five working days before it is put to sleep so it is impor- tant for people to immediately call the shelter and call . often," said Wendy. Racoons and skunks are captured quite often in the . summer and are always euthanized. The North Salt Lake animal control handles the same L sort of cases the Davis County shelter handles, but for , North Salt Lake it is cheaper for them to contract with . Salt Lake City's shelter and have their own officers. They contract with the Beck Street shelter to house the animals they pick up. " The Beck Street shelter has a free-to-the-public pet- ' ting zoo in which ponies, pigs, birds and sheep are there for people to see. |