Santa Rosa County commissioners are scheduled to vote today to establish a new fee structure for animal services, updating the county ordinance that was adopted in 2019.
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The biggest change is a fee escalator for multiple impound redemptions.
The item was presented to the board during Monday’s committee meeting, with county staff telling commissioners that the 2019 ordinance was due to be updated because its fee schedule lacked consistency and was not incremental.
“We’ve got a couple of situations in the county, where we have some dogs that we’ve impounded,” said Randy Lambert, chief of Santa Rosa County Animal Services, explaining the need for a stepped approach to rates for repeat cases.
“We’ve picked these dogs up around 30 times and as we bring them back into the shelter, the owner shows up a day or two later to pick up the dog. They pay the $35 and they take the dog back home. Then a few weeks later we’re back out there again picking the dog up.”
Redemption fees — with current proof of Rabies vaccination — are $15 for a first impound, $25 for a second, and $35 for a third. Without proof of vaccination, the cost of redemption goes from $25 for a first impound, to $45 for a second, and $65 for a third. Now, the county has developed a new escalating fee schedule that significantly raises the cost for four or more impoundments.
Lambert says their goal with the new animal control fees is to incentivize owners to keep their dogs contained on their property.
“So we’re adding this multiplier, this sequential impound multiplier of $50,” he explained. “For every time the dog is impounded after that third time, it’s going to be the number of times it’s been impounded times $50. For example, if it was impounded for a fourth time, that’s going to be a $400 fee to redeem or recollect their pet. Then it just continues on to multiply after that.”
There’s no limit, he confirms, because the fees are at the discretion of the county and don’t have a state-mandated maximum.
“I’m pretty good with it,” said Commission Chairman Kerry Smith. “Just looking at the back up, it was very eye-opening to me that we didn’t have an escalator in there...so just keeping returning in this revolving door and there’s no punishment for being a multiple offender. That’s crazy.”
Commissioner Colten Wright also supported the new fee schedule, declaring it a good starting point.
“I’m comfortable with this as it is. But I think if we continue to have the same repeat offenders, then we need to get a little tougher on those,” stated Wright, who expressed frustration and concern over the dangerous dog issue, particularly after seeing a neighbor’s dog get attacked by another dog that came into their yard.
“We talk about public safety is important and we often think of traditional crime in the street, and people speeding and dangers like that,” he said. “But there’s no doubt that animal control is a public safety and law enforcement issue that we need to be taking very seriously.”
On the public safety issue, Lambert said it’s fortunate that the county’s two biggest offenders for impoundment are friendly dogs, but he agrees that animals roaming free, unleashed, can be a hazard.
“Because the dog becomes a risk as it’s crossing the street, potentially a car running into it,” he said. Maybe even the car is coming down the road trying to dodge the dog and runs into something else or someone else.”
The ordinance also updates and establishes some consistency when it comes to fines for animal control violations.
“We just went through and cleaned those up, made those very simple and incremental,” said Lambert, explaining that, for the most part, the first violation will bring a $100 fine, with the second costing $200 and the third violation would bring a fine of $300.
“The only differences in there are when it’s a dangerous situation or whenever it’s the neglect or cruelty situation. We’re gonna max out the violation amount on there at $500. That’s the max the state allows us to have those fines for those violations.”
If approved, the new fees will take effect on October 1.
