10:12 p.m.: How shelter might go private

By Jessica Kerman

April 09, 2008 10:13 pm

— ANDERSON — At Wednesday night’s public meeting about restructuring the Anderson Animal Shelter (now Anderson Animal Care and Control), Mayor Kris Ockomon clearly stated that he did not want to make the facility private.
However, in previous statements, he referred to restructuring the facility much like shelters in Hamilton County and Henry County.
The Humane Society of Hamilton County, based in Noblesville, is a private facility that contracts with most of Hamilton County. It has a low-cost spay and neuter clinic attached to it.
Rebecca Stevens, executive director of the Humane Society of Hamilton County, explained that the shelter was privately funded and privately run, with oversight by a board of directors.
“We’re required to take in all stray animals, regardless of capacity from those entities that we contract with,” she said.
Those include Fishers, Westfield, Carmel, Noblesville and Hamilton County. Four small communities — Cicero, Sheridan, Atlanta and Arcadia — do not participate in the program because they cannot afford it, Stevens said.
Because the facility is in contract with these communities, about 43 percent of the shelter’s budget is expected to come from taxpayer dollars for 2008, she said. The rest is raised through fundraisers and adoption fees.
The Humane Society keeps track of where every animal is found or surrendered from, and a charge is added to each community based on the location.
For 2008, the cost per animal is $137.72, Stevens said.
“What that number represents is the cost for us to take in and process each animal and hold them for seven days,” she said.
Processing includes providing care, vaccinations, testing, microchipping and labor.
Like the Humane Society of Hamilton County, the Anderson Animal Shelter has a contract to take in animals from Alexandria, Elwood, Ingalls, Pendleton and the county, said Dick Wiley, chairman of the Board of Public Safety.
Each community is required to pay a fee in the contract. The exact amount was not available Wednesday night.
The Humane Society of Hamilton County does not euthanize animals after a determined period of time, and it does not euthanize animals to make room for more.
“As long as they are healthy and adoptable, we will not euthanize them,” Stevens said.
While Ockomon has since said he does not want to privatize Anderson’s animal facility, he said he would consider a proposal.
Low Cost Spay Neuter Clinic Inc. operates the low-cost facility in Hamilton County. Tammy Sollenberger, executive director of the facility, was at the meeting Wednesday night. She said she might consider opening a low-cost clinic in Madison County.