News
Athens County Dog Shelter Faces Budget Shortfall
By: Jillian Hartmann
Posted on:
The Athens County Dog Shelter is facing a budget shortage of nearly $24,000 this year.
A key source to funding the dog shelter comes from dog tags sales and adoption fees. This year sales are down nearly 400 tags compared to last year. The shelter also has higher employee costs with the addition of a fourth fulltime position but Athens County commissioners raised the price of dog tags by $2 to cover the addition of the full-time position. The shelter also increased adoption fees.
The owner of Thrift Store for Animal Friends, Terri Ann Smith, believes the shelter shouldn't be so focused on money. She states, "If they are gonna place a dollar amount on a dog's life, they shouldn't have such a strict adoption fee, it should be flexible. They should do free adoption days, the priority should be getting the animal a home, not collecting $85."
To help with budget costs, the commissioners instructed Dog Warren, Jeff Koons, to make scheduling adjustments to reduce overtime costs. Right now, there are 31 dogs in the shelter. There will be a "Friends of the Shelter Dogs" adoption event at Petsmart on East State Street this Saturday morning from 10 A.M. to 1 P.M.