Recordpub.com - Portage County to fund humane officer

Sat Jul 04 2009

Home | Back

Portage County to fund humane officer

Email To A Friend
Printer Friendly
Comments

January 8, 2009

By Mike Sever
Record-Courier staff writer
Portage County commissioners have agreed to fund at least the base pay for a county humane officer.
Commissioners Chris Smeiles and Maureen Frederick agreed to allocate $29,120 for 2009 during a meeting Tuesday with Portage Animal Protective League Board President Karen Carmany and Secretary Cheryl Casper.
Commissioners paid $14,500 to the humane officer in 2008.
Commissioners left it up to the PAPL board to accept the $29,120 offer, which would keep the humane officer position operating under the PAPL. Without a humane officer, animal abuse and neglect investigations would be left to local law enforcement.
Last fall, the nonprofit cut back on the humane officer's hours because of high expenses and a drop in donations. Then the PAPL said it could no longer afford to subsidize the humane officer's job beyond Dec. 31 without help from the county or other governments. The PAPL reversed that decision in early December while hoping to come to a funding agreement with commissioners.
Carmany said that with overtime, the humane officer's costs are about $40,000 a year. Frederick said she was leaning to funding the full cost if money was available.
The $29,120 base pay works out to about $14 an hour, about the same hourly rate as a deputy dog warden.
Other costs, such as use of a van and office space, are covered by the PAPL. The nonprofit also has been paying for the food and treatment of animals seized by the humane officer.
Carmany also asked if the county could cover some supply costs for the humane officer, such as a police vest, bite sticks and other equipment needed to handle animals. Commissioners agreed to ask their legal counsel if the county could legally buy or provide money for equipment.
The PAPL was hit by thousands of dollars in veterinarian costs associated with several big abuse cases last year, particularly a Brimfield case involving some two dozen horses. On top of that, Carmany said donations had fallen off as a result of the declining economy.
"We were looking at our donation base just drying up. We had no money coming in, and we were looking at dire financial news" Carmany said of the PAPL's situation last fall.
"We were looking at ways to keep the doors open and not looking at the mission" of the organization, she said Tuesday. "We decided we just can't, in good conscience," shut down the humane officer function. "Portage County needs it; the animals deserve it."
"
E-mail:
msever@recordpub.com
Phone: 330 298-1125

Comments

By Posting to this site, you agree to our Terms of Service Be polite. Inappropriate posts may be removed. Recordpub.com doesn't necessarily condone the comments here, nor does it review every post.

6.	Posted by Sands January 13, 2009
	DoWhatsRight I am not wrong. I really think that you need to research before you spout off. Go to the shelter, or the dog pound and spend a day there. Learn what you can about abandoned, abused, or sick animals.

5.	Posted by KT4ANIMALRIGHTS January 10, 2009
	I am a Humane Officer and just and F.Y.I. The only "stray" animals we can take are the sick/injured ones. The shelter I work for was built to hold 130 animals and right now we have about 400. We only put the really sick/injured one to sleep or the ones that are to mean to adopt out. Pleas remember spay/neuter and if you want a "pure" breed look into the pure breed shelters. They have every kind!!! Make sure the out door animals have shelter and food and water! Thank You!

4.	Posted by DoWhatsRight January 9, 2009
	Sands You are wrong. The Humane officer also collects stray animals as well as see to the welfare of animals. We do have two separate kennels to operate and keep. Why not just one.

3.	Posted by Sands January 9, 2009
	Lets clarify what a dog warden and a humane officer does before making comments. A dog warden is responsible for stray animals, while a humane officer duties are compared to a social worker but for animals. It is not the gool old boy network at work again. I too applaud the county for financing the humane officer. It should have always been that way seeing as that is a county position.

2.	Posted by hangemhigh January 8, 2009
	now all we need is a cat catcher. now they are out of control.

1.	Posted by DoWhatsRight January 8, 2009
	I wonder why we have a dog catcher and a humane officer. Why do we have two dog pounds, one for the APL and one for the county. It seems to me that we could combine them and have more money with which to operate. Oh, I forgot that the County hires the dog catcher and it has to maintain it's good old boy network. I do applaud the county for financing the humane officer. It is the right thing to do.

Home | Back

Advanced Search