Absolutely, municipalities should be responsible for Animal Control, just as they are for by-laws, because the people will have a voice. Not like it is now in most places where the SPCA controlled shelters/animal control staff have selective hearing, mayors and councils must listen to their constituents in order to keep their positions. Also I beleive that municipal pounds should be administered by the people(of course they must prove their worthiness) who run them, city hall powers who are not in touch with the actual day-to-day workings should not be able to dictate how they run. Volunteers, for dog-walking and kitty socializing, would help to keep staff honest and caring. Fund raising drives for the animals could help out with the budgets as Animal Control is usually not a priority, that way those who care can be sure their money is going to the animals.
In this municipality the budget for Animal Control was not increased (causing much stress for already overworked staff), while the budget for garbage disposal went up. Personally 4/5 of my garbage is taken , by me, to the recycling bins. that leaves one small bag left out every 2 weeks. However neighbours, most of whom have several generations living in the house, put out the maximum amount of overflowing cans. I don't want to pay for their portion of garbage disposal while Animal Control is put in a precarious position. Things are not right, people need to be more informed about what really goes on in Animal Control in their districts. Yes in a perfect world everyone would look after their precious pets properly so there wouldn't be much of a need for shelters but until the issues are brought out into the light for all to see, via education about responsible pet care, we are going to have to continue our fight. I don't have kids, but of course my tax dollars are going to their education, perhaps some of my tax dollars could go to at least making a video about proper pet care, not just fluffy cute stuff(depict reality), that could be distributed to schools province wide.