Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, May 18, 1994 TAG: 9405180070
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: By LESLIE TAYLOR STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
For years, the SPCA has charged Roanoke, Vinton and the counties of Roanoke, Botetourt and Craig a flat fee to care for animals that animal control officers from each locality bring to its Northeast Roanoke shelter. But under the fee structure, localities were paying less for services than it cost the SPCA to provide them.
Under new contracts negotiated this year, localities will pay $6 per animal per day, nearly doubling costs for some localities.
When Steve Davidson, president of the SPCA board of directors, joined the board several years ago, he homed in on bringing shelter operations out of the red, in part by restructuring the fees paid by the five localities.
"That was one of the main things," Davidson said Tuesday at a luncheon at the Sheraton Airport Inn in Roanoke. "We couldn't afford to support the municipalities the way we were doing."
At the board's request, the Virginia Tech business school studied the organization's fee structure last year. The study confirmed board members' concerns - that the fees were too low and that some of the larger localities were not paying their fair share.
The new fee structure is more equitable "to us and to the municipalities," Davidson said.
The fees had made up 25 percent of the organization's operating budget. The new fee structure will boost that to 30 percent.
Roanoke's new contract increases its fees for animal care by $2.64 per animal per day. Roanoke brings an average of 300 animals a month to the shelter.
Craig County, which brought 189 animals to the shelter last year, will pay 4 to 5 percent more to the SPCA in animal care costs, said Richard Flora, county administrator.
"The advantage is, we might be able to control our costs more," Flora said.
Still, Davidson says, "We're a bargain for [the localities], and they recognize it."
The $6 charge is based on what it costs the SPCA to vaccinate, feed, care for and, if necessary, euthanize animals, said Al Alexander, the shelter's executive director.
"A nonprofit organization like ours is totally dependent on money from municipalities and from donations and memberships," Alexander said. "Other than that, we don't have an income."
The new fee system "is more fair to everybody," he said. "And we've got more money coming in from localities. Unfortunately, it means we have more animals coming in. We've got more animals coming in now than this time last year."
Last year, 3,910 cats and dogs were turned over to the SPCA from the five localities, and 4,541 animals were brought in by the public.
So far this year, the SPCA has received nearly 1,000 animals, Alexander said. At the same time last year, the figure was not quite as high, he said.
"But we're getting more and more adopted and fewer and fewer returned," he said. "Since December, only four have been brought back. And two of those were readopted, so it's pretty good figures."
The figures "underscore the need for more animal and pet education," Alexander said. "People need to have their dogs and cats spayed and neutered for our society to control pet overpopulation."
The percentage of animals that had to be put to death is down from 80 percent to 60 percent, Alexander said.
"That could change tomorrow," he said. "We're getting into the summer months, when we get more and more animals. And we have limited space."
Memo: NOTE: Shorter version ran in Metro edition.