Stray animal services uncertain as final budgets approach

The future of stray animal care in Bonner County is up in the air. 

For more than a decade, Better Together Animal Alliance — a nonprofit shelter based in Ponderay — has held contracts with local municipalities to house stray dogs. After the shelter announced it would raise its rates substantially this year, elected officials began exploring other options. 

In the 2023 budget cycle, Sandpoint, Ponderay, and Bonner County paid BTAA a total of $18,400 to take in 406 stray dogs. According to the shelter, the actual cost of caring for the animals was $274,054. 

Mandy Evans, BTAA executive director, said this discrepancy wasn’t unordinary. She reported that BTAA has used funds from private donors and adoption revenue to help cover the cost of the contracted service for years. 

Now, animal care costs are rising. BTAA has seen its utility bills surge and its insurance price double over the past two years; the organization can no longer subsidize the contracted work. As a result, BTAA proposed new contract rates to all three partners in March that it said accurately account for the true cost of the service. 

What are the contracted duties? 

Idaho Code requires counties to impound stray dogs and hold them for a five-day period, not including weekends or holidays. Counties are also required to try to reconnect the pet and the owner. If this is unsuccessful, a stray dog becomes the property of the county. 

The code also states that if cities within the county have dog licensing systems, they are required to impound strays under the same standards. 

Under the current agreements in Bonner County, BTAA accepts a stray dog from local law enforcement or a citizen. The shelter houses the stray in a dedicated indoor area for the five-day period and uses its sophisticated local network to reunite the animal with its owner. 

Once the period expires, the dog becomes the property of BTAA, and the shelter houses the animal until it’s adopted. 

If the contracts weren’t in place, the county and the municipalities would still be legally required to house strays for the same five-day period until ownership of the animal passed to them. 

What are the proposed contracts? 

The annual contract amounts proposed by BTAA in March are $19,184 for Ponderay, $65,773 for Sandpoint, and $169,913 for Bonner County. The $254,870 total represents a 1,285% total increase from the 2023 combined amount.

While local officials have been hit with sticker shock, many agree that BTAA should receive more than the current $18,400 to perform the contracted service. 

“I do agree that there needs to be an increase in the budget,” Sandpoint Police Chief Corey Coon said at a July 3 city council meeting. “I don't agree that $65,733 is something that should be tasked back on our citizens.” 

Sandpoint Mayor Jeremy Grimm echoed the sentiment in an Aug. 7 council meeting. 

“That is a ridiculously low amount of money we were paying,” said Grimm of the $2,400 Sandpoint paid BTAA in 2023. 

That said, Grimm couldn’t get behind a 2,638% Sandpoint rate increase. 

BTAA’s new rates were developed by determining the proportion of strays in the shelter’s total intake. Because stray dogs account for 25.83% of the total animals taken in by BTAA, the organization determined that 25.83% of the shelter operations budget of $1,061,111 should be paid by the county and municipalities — the total amount of $274,053. 

Why the sudden increase? 

According to Evans, BTAA’s rising operating costs have created an urgent need for more accurate contracts.  

“We know that this is a huge jump, what we're asking for,” Evans said at the July 3 meeting. “This is on us. Our billing was an inaccurate, antiquated model, and this is why we’re changing it.” 

To soften the blow of the rate jump, BTAA has offered plans to the cities and county that begin at 50% of the new price and ramp up to the full amount over five years. 

Still, Ponderay Mayor Steve Geiger and Bonner County Sheriff Daryl Wheeler said they don’t intend to accept BTAA’s proposed contracts. 

“I am grateful for the partnership we have had over the last several years,” Wheeler said in a July email to BTAA. “I cannot justify to the taxpayers (to whom I am accountable) a 1033% increase in your proposed contract.” 

Wheeler stated he was unable to participate in an interview with the Daily Bee but said that he will follow the statutory requirements for animal control outlined in Idaho Code. 

Geiger also expressed his gratitude for the shelter’s efforts and expressed his perspective on the rising rate. 

“I appreciate what they do. It's a needed service,” he said in an August interview. “We just don't have that kind of money.” 

“We have a budget. We have to live within our means,” Geiger added. “We just can't be slapped with an $18,000 upcharge in one year.” 

Recently, Sandpoint published a draft fiscal year 2025 budget. In it, the city allotted $7,400 for its stray dogs program — a threefold increase from 2023. 

Because the amount has now exceeded $5,000, the city is required to receive bids for the service, per Sandpoint Code. 

“What I don't know is who's going to respond to that bid,” said Grimm at the Aug. 7 meeting. “If BTAA is the only responder, staff will work with the budgeted amount to make sure that we can provide that service.” 

What are the alternatives? 

If Ponderay, Sandpoint, and Bonner County don’t come to agreements with BTAA, they will have to turn elsewhere for stray intake. 

Each municipality can either contract with a different organization or operate their own shelter to hold dogs for the required five days. 

With the current contracts expiring at the end of September, some community members are concerned that the cities and county are not prepared to handle the responsibilities of caring for stray dogs. 

“For our government entities to take this on with no infrastructure in place, as far as facilities, staff, and experience, seems impossible,” said Kathy Chambers, Sandpoint resident, during the Aug. 7 Sandpoint City Council meeting. 

In an interview, Evans emphasized the nuanced nature of sheltering dogs. 

“If stray intake is performed elsewhere, the community should seek to understand how humane standards will be met,” Evans said. 

“How will disease prevention be managed? If a dog comes to them sick or injured, how will they treat that dog?” Evans asked. 

“Each of these answers represents the morals and ethics of a community and how we treat our animals,” she added. 

A major portion of the cost associated with BTAA’s stray intake program is related to length of stay. While Idaho Code requires a five-day impound, owners don’t always pick up their dogs within the period; Evans stated that the average length of stay for a stray at BTAA last year was 28 days. 

Under Idaho Code 25-2804, municipalities reserve the right to humanely kill a stray dog after the five-day holding period if a reasonable effort to locate the owner has failed. 

“I'm not in favor of euthanasia,” Grimm said at the Aug. 7 meeting. BTAA holds stray dogs until they are adopted, and only euthanizes animals that are terminally ill or mortally injured. 

Coon expressed his intent to minimize the length of shelter stays and keep costs low by instructing law enforcement officers to take a proactive approach to reconnecting pets and owners. 

“We want to shelter zero dogs," Coon said at the Aug. 7 meeting. “Zero is probably an unattainable goal, but if we have that goal, it's something that we can work towards,” he added. 

“As we build our policies and our procedures around it, we can drop it down.” 

Additionally, Coon intends to hold owners of stray dogs accountable by enforcing fees and fines when pets are reunited with owners.  

In the past, BTAA has waived impound fees for owners. Evans stated that strict enforcement of fees can deter the pick-up of stray dogs, increasing the number of animals staying at the shelter. 

If the municipalities struggle to find a private partner, they may have to take stray intake in-house.  

Captain Jason Mealer of the Post Falls Police Department oversees a dedicated canine shelter for the law enforcement agency. According to him, the associated costs are significant.  

Mealer stated that the department currently employs two animal control staff and one shelter manager.  

“You have their salary, you have their medical benefits, their retirement,” said Mealer. “It adds up quickly.”  

He added that it is unrealistic to expect existing employees to take up animal care duties without allotting ample time in their schedules for the task.  

“You might be able to do that for a short period of time,” said Mealer. “You're probably going to work them more than you anticipate.”  

If an owner fails to recover an animal and the five-day impound period expires, Mealer says his staff work to move the animal to a local humane shelter as soon as possible.  

“We want them to have a chance to get adopted, to have a future with some other family that wants them,” said Mealer.  

In rare cases, if a dog is very sick or aggressive, there is no other choice than to put it down. Out of more than 400 dogs that came to the shelter in the past year, only three were euthanized, according to Mealer.  

The system that enables that record requires time, energy, and resources.  

“I always kind of chuckle a little bit, because people say, ‘it’s so easy. You just build a building, put some cages in there, and you're good.’ No, that's not what you do,” Mealer said.  

“To do it correctly, that's not what you do.” 

What’s next? 

With the Oct. 1 contract expiration looming, Evans’ greatest concern is for the welfare of local dogs. 

“This is not about us gaining more money,” said Evans. “If we don't hold the contracts, we don't hold the contracts. That's fine — they're a lot of work.”  

“What we care about is the quality of care and the humane treatment of our area dogs,” Evans added. “This isn't really about us and them.” 

All three municipalities are finalizing budgets for 2025, which will determine the funds they plan to allocate for stray intake services.  

Sandpoint City Council is hosting a budget hearing Aug. 21, while Bonner County will receive public feedback in an Aug. 26 meeting.