Popular Categories

No categories found.

Costs for animal control keeps rising



The Escondido City Council at its June 24 meeting by a vote of 4-0 approved of a three-year agreement with the San Diego Humane Society to continue to provide animal services for the city through FY 2023. 

The costs are below:

Year 1 = $1,047,306 (No increase from current agreement)

Year 2 = $1,204,402

Year 3 = $1,385,062

The item was part of the meeting’s consent agenda, however Councilmember Olga Diaz pulled it because she was concerned about the increased costs and wanted the public to be aware of them.

“This is an area that is increasingly expensive for us,” she said. “There’s a significant escalation of costs and the public needs to be aware of what it costs to provide animal control services.”

Because Animal Control comes under the police department budget, Chief Ed Varso explained the background. Escondido has used the San Diego Humane Society services since 2014, after it merged with the Escondido Humane Society.

“Going into this agreement we had extensive negotiations with San Diego Humane Society and then we also looked at what other options there were for providing animal control services in the city,” said Varso. He said he personally has been looking at cutting costs for two years now.

The other options include 1) Joint Powers Agreement (A JPA study was done in 2014 by Escondido, San Marcos and Oceanside);  2)  In-house animal control services; 3) Contract with another animal control entity and 4) Animal services agreement with San Diego Humane Society.

The JPA study conducted by a consulting firm, “showed that the city’s obligations would be somewhere in the area of $1.6 million to $2 million or just our piece of that. In addition to bond measures that would be needed to construct an animal shelter,” said Varso. “The possibility still exists. It’s something that we can still explore going into future endeavors—if other cities were interested in pursuing that direction.”

Looking at the costs if the city assumed full control of animal control services, Varso said, “What we came up with was it would cost about $1.8 million a year—and operational expenses—and the city would also have to come up with about $14 million roughly for the cost of building.” This option would probably provide a much reduced service, “compared to what we received currently from San Diego,” he said, adding, “and even that price tag was about $1.4 million a year and operational expenses against owning the shelter as well.”

They also investigated other entities they might contract with to provide animal services. “Right now in San Diego County there are a couple local municipalities that have their own operations that are not interested in contracting  with the County that would be the next closest option,” said the chief.

San Diego County Animal Services had contract cities for many years until recently when the County got out of the business. The cities it contracted with now contract with San Diego Humane Society. “So that too is not an option for us,” said Varso.

The city had conversations with the Humane Society to better understand why the costs are as so high. Staff learned that the Humane Society calculates animal control costs based on services specific to Escondido. 

Most of these expenses are related to: 

  • Veterinary services
  • Animal intake
  • Animal care and shelter
  • Humane law enforcement calls for service
  • Humane law enforcement field services.

Philanthropic and charitable donations to the San Diego Humane Society cover about 30% of Escondido’s total animal control costs. In other words, the city doesn’t pay that percentage. 

Diaz wanted to make sure the Humane Society acknowledges that Escondido provides the land and building where the shelter operates at almost no cost and that some of animal services it provides from that location are to the unincorporated areas and to cities other than Escondido.

Council member Mike Morasco said he was glad that Diaz had asked these questions. “Those are the same questions I have had,” he said. “We have been dealing with this situation for several years now and hoping we could come up with a solution to this conundrum we have.”

He noted that in the past one problem was that some “elective” procedures the city had no control over included animals from outside city jurisdiction.

“Is that addressed in that thirty percent you were talking about the comes from other funding?” Morasco asked. “Or are we still obligated for any and all services they provide regardless of whether or not that is part of the services we are contracting with them for?”

Varso said that very issue was one part of the first conversations city staff had with the Humane Society. “We have drilled down on making sure we’re paying for what is appropriate for animal control services,” he said.

The original proposed costs from the Humane Society included a 141% increase—which would have cost the city $2.5 million for FY 2020-21 with a 15% annual increase. 

“We are going to continue to have conversations on how we provide better services and keep costs down,” said Varso.

He told the council, “So what we’re proposing here tonight is recommending approval of a three year agreement that would have no increase in year one. Initially there was talk about increases in year one, two and three. Given the economic circumstances being generated by COVID-19 we negotiated a no increase in year one with increases in year two in year three.” 

He added that the Humane Society is exploring other ways to generate income, including increasing fees for service.

One response to “Costs for animal control keeps rising”

  1. Carrie Silvina Espinoza Villanueva says:

    40 years ago I worked for the San Diego Animal Control off of Palomar Airport Road. I live in Escondido. Last year my grandson insisted on having a puppy , I said no, his father got him a cockatoo mix. One year later, the dog spends 99% of its life alone, outside, in a cement run. Lap dogs like this require great amounts of socialization or they become frantic, neurotic and bite people, like the dog groomer. Like most lap dogs , it was breed to be attached to you and loathes it’s lonesome existence. Last year I took my grandson , grandaughter and the dog to the Esc Humane facility to make sure the puppy got her shots and licensing. The first thing I said to the kids as we pulled up to the gate was, ” Do either of you have any idea how much this facility costs?” I continued, ” No matter the cost , every dime is a gross testimonial to the irresponsibility of people who want a cute animal but who later want to dump them” . I work with Olga at Palomar College, shes great to work with because shes pragmatic , rational and reasonable. I am an animal lover myself, pragmatic as heck but I absolutely cant stand irresponsible people. Me? I would shut the place down with a 90 day notice. All the people who want one of the animals would step forward. I guarantee most animals would be taken or moved. The rest would have some onerous issue that would require euthanasia. This is reality. I cannot condone robbing taxpayers to support other people’s irresponsible behaviors. I cant condone spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on housing animals when there are the homeless who need the shelter. As for who would enforce animal cruelty? Let the people form their own group, a la homeowners association. The money from animal licenses could go to them. When people put their money where their mouths are then the truth is seen. Maybe a grassroots organization would work, maybe it wouldn’t. I take care of my own, each person needs to do the same. I’m sure I will get some hate mail for this. Bring it. But remember , I’m going to expect you to put your money where your mouth is. Get ready, be prepared. Tell me how many animals have you taken in when orhers dumped them? How many street people have you taken in, fed and clothed till they were on their feet? Do you know what incredible lessons your children can learn when they provide help to a down and out neighbor? Speak up, because I CANT HEAR YOU.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *