On September 14, 2006 City Council approved a resolution supporting the implementation of a community wide five-year Animal Care Strategic Plan that would challenge and lead the community to achieve a “no kill” goal by 2012. 

Achieving a “no kill” goal by 2012 requires increasing the entire community’s awareness of the critical animal care issues that the City of San Antonio faces.  More importantly, it also requires increasing the level of responsibility that pet owners take for the care and treatment of their animals.   In January 2007, an Ad Hoc Subcommittee was appointed by the Board to review and make recommendations to revise Chapter 5 of the City Code.

From February through June 2007, the Subcommittee conducted a series of meetings to discuss proposed revisions. The Subcommittee presented their recommendations to the Board on July 11, 2007. At that time, the Board made the decision to hold a stakeholder meeting on August 1, 2007 and a community input meeting on August 22, 2007 regarding the proposed revisions to Chapter 5.

The Ad Hoc Subcommittee consisted of both Board and non-board members. Board members included Mary Abbott (District 7), Ellen Lockwood (District 8), Laura McKieran (District 1) and Pat DiGiovanni (ex-officio). Non-Board members included Mary Beth Duerler (Responsible Pet Owners Alliance), Joel Hailey (Voice for Animals), Michelle Molina (Stray Cat Adoptions of Texas), City staff from Animal Care Services, City Attorney’s Office, Health and Housing & Neighborhood Services.

In addition to the attached draft of the Chapter 5 Ordinance (Attachment A), the new proposed fee schedule amending the current fees (Attachment B) is also attached. Because community education of the Ordinance is imperative to knowledge of and compliance with the new provisions, it is recommended that implementation of the sections relating to the intact dog permit and sterilization of impounded animals (sections 5-107 and 5-156) be delayed until January 1, 2009. The provisions relating to dangerous animals (Article IV) are recommended to become effective immediately. Also, it recommended that sections 5-108, 5-109, 5-111, 5-112, 5-113, 5-114, 5-115 and 5-151 become effective March 1, 2008. All other sections would become effective January 1, 2008.

Originally, ACS proposed free licensing for all residents using micro chips as the primary means of licensing. The fiscal impact of this was not addressed in the FY ’08 budget that was presented to Council. To address this fiscal impact, ACS is now proposing to charge a nominal fee of $7.00 per chip to cover the cost of the micro chip and the staff time required to implant the chip. ACS may also provide the citizens of San Antonio free low cost clinics on a quarterly basis where the micro chip service can be obtained free of charge for their pet (s). If budget allows, ACS will propose free micro chipping as an enhancement in the budget for the 2009 fiscal year. Regardless of the demand, the $7.00 fee will allow ACS  to provide this service and still cover the costs associated with providing the service.

Since Animal Care Services will be offering free licensing, there will be a loss of licensing revenue that was originally projected to be $207,132. The total pet owners estimated to take advantage of the free licensing is 30,000, which has factored a modest increase for demand. At the Free Quarterly Clinics, ACS anticipates a total of 1,000 citizens to take advantage of the free micro chipping service. The financial impact of this proposed action is estimated to be $5,000 annually. Although this amount was not budgeted in the Animal Care budget, grants and other funding opportunities may be pursued to cover the estimated budget impact. Should grants not be available, Animal Care will not be able to provide the free clinics listed due to budgetary constraints. The $5,000 total includes an expense of $5.00 per microchip and the 1,000 estimated pet owners who may take advantage of the free micro chipping. The total fiscal impact is estimated to be $212,132.

The requirement to obtain the free licensing is that pet owners must show proof of current rabies vaccination. According to the August 2007 survey completed by the San Antonio Area Foundation, only 40% of pet owners are current with their vaccinations. To help offset the total fiscal impact listed above, ACS will be charging $12.00 for the rabies vaccination to those pet owners who are not current and would like to license their pets for free. That would mean that approximately 18,000 pet owners (60% of 30,000) would need to have their pets vaccinated for rabies. The amount of revenue generated by this effort is estimated to be $216,000.

Taking all of the above into consideration, it is anticipated that the final budgetary impact will be neutral.