HELMETTA — A plan to reopen the Helmetta Regional Animal Shelter includes raising fees for contracted towns to ensure the shelter operation is fiscally sound, and expanding services to address the health and welfare of animals that would be housed there.
Members of the Borough Council animal shelter committee made details of the proposal public at a March 8 special meeting, but some officials are seeking more information before holding a vote.
The proposal includes financial recommendations and changes to management, including the development of an independent advisory board with oversight of shelter operations; institution of trap-neuterrelease policies for feral cats; full vetting of animals at the facility; instituting a comprehensive disease control program; and developing a robust network of volunteers, fosters and rescues.
Central to the plan is addressing the facility’s outstanding debt of more than $1.5 million, which was incurred during the refurbishing of the old Helme Snuff Mill boiler building. Monthly payments of $10,000 are made on the $2 million bond.
The proposal is based on recommendations by Nicole Dawson, who was appointed interim shelter director after the New Jersey Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (NJSPCA) took over management of the shelter, which had been placed under quarantine by the Middlesex County Health Department.
“After analyzing the potential revenue sources, money to cover the bond would have to come from another source,” Dawson said in an interview on March 9, adding that revenue generated by the shelter should be allocated to shelter operations.
She said contracted municipalities would see costs increase under the proposal, but a number of services would also be added, including spaying/neutering and vaccinating animals, microchipping, and a public pet food bank for residents of contracted municipalities.
The increase in cost would be significant. For example, the borough of South River, which remains under contract with Helmetta, paid $20,535 for animal control and impoundment services in 2013, according to Helmetta’s 2014 budget. Under the proposed plan, South River would be charged $3 per capita, amounting to a total cost of $48,708.
“Three dollars [per capita] is about average,” Dawson said. “[Previously] there were some towns that were being provided with both animal control and sheltering services being charged 80 cents per capita, and there were other towns being charged $2.50 per capita.
“So, there was no consistency, which is difficult for budgeting purposes. And there didn’t seem to be any justification for the inconsistencies.”
The national average per-capita charge is around $5 or $6, but New Jersey’s standard rate is typically lower, Dawson said. The per-capita charge is designed to bring uniformity to the rates charged to contracted municipalities.
Financial projections included in the proposal estimate a roughly $119,004 annual balance for the shelter. The projections are based on 2013 adoption levels, increased adoption fees, estimated expenses and per-capita contracts with seven municipalities.
The animal shelter committee is revising the plan, according to Councilwoman Yvette Bruno, chairwoman of the animal shelter committee.
The proposal identifies best practices that would be instituted in shelter operations, such as a quality disease-control program, a pre-adoption spay/neuter policy, an outreach effort to increase adoptions, a robust foster program, and the introduction of community programs.
According to Councilman Pete Karczewski, a member of the animal shelter committee, the shelter advisory board created under the plan would be an independent, nonpartisan entity charged with oversight of shelter operations.
“We need to take politics out of this thing,” Karczewski said.
The advisory board would ideally be composed of veterinarians, residents and animal welfare advocates, he added.
However, borough officials remain hesitant to move forward with the plan, citing a concern that municipalities would withdraw from contracts in response to the cost increase.
Karczewski said he and Bruno hoped the proposal could be brought to a vote on Sunday, but encountered what he called “stall tactics” by other members of the borough government.
However, Mayor Nancy Martin said she believes aspects of the proposal are unrealistic and questioned the validity of revenue projections.
Martin added she prefers to let a request for proposals (RFP), aimed at privatizing the facility, run its course before the municipality takes action on the shelter plan.
“The RFP was just advertised last week,” Martin said. “We have had one interested party … but the offer was not sufficient to satisfy the bond obligation on the property.”
According to Martin, doubling the costs of adoption and limiting shelter capacity to 44 animals raises revenue concerns. She said shifting the burden of the outstanding debt service on the bond to Helmetta residents is unacceptable.
Borough Attorney David Clark said he is contacting the seven towns that remain contracted with Helmetta for animal control to determine whether they would continue using the borough’s services if the plan were enacted.