By: centraljersey.com
The first dog license fee increase in 20 years has been proposed to help offset what township officials say will be a 110 percent increase in the cost of animal control services in the next three years.
An ordinance introduced Dec. 14 would increase the current $7 dog license fee set in 1991 to $14.80 in 2011 and $19.80 in 2012. The state collects an additional $1.20 in fees that are added to the total dog license cost.
A public hearing on the ordinance is scheduled for Tuesday.
The township has been notified by St. Hubert’s Giralda that animal control services from the nonprofit agency will rise from $60,000 in 2010, to $87,338 in 2011, $106,746 in 2012, and $126,155 in 2013, officials said.
"Hillsborough is required by state mandate to provide animal control services, which when you strip away the bureaucratic jargon it essentially is to have a dog catcher and a pound," Mayor Frank DelCore said in a press release. "That cost has always been paid partially by taxpayers through a budget appropriation, and partially by dog owners through licensing fees.
"The Health Department has surveyed in an attempt to find an equivalent service animal control service with a lower cost and has determined there is no equivalent service at a lower cost available," he said.
Deputy Mayor Gloria McCauley, the Health Department liaison for the Township Committee, said that she and Health Officer Glen Belnay met with St. Hubert’s to get an explanation for the cost increase.
"One of the factors is their construction of a new animal hold facility," she said in the release. "Without that change, they probably would not have been able to continue to serve Hillsborough.
"If the township had to hire the personnel and build its own hold facility, it would require a cost significantly beyond the cost of St. Hubert’s proposed contract."
Mr. DelCore said the township needs to raise the dog licensing fees so they "continue to contribute toward its fair share of these animal control costs."
"The fee increase in 2011 will provide a total of $53,000 from fees, toward the total cost of $87,000 for animal control services," he said. "The remainder will have to be appropriated in the budget."