There should be serious questions about the way our money is being spent.
Council decided to fund a new dog pound without any proof that we need it. There is no engineering study, no formal budget, no submitted proposal – there isn’t a clue how this $19 to $31 million or even more is going to be spent. Council made this dog pound a priority and dropped other urgent projects. Why?
1) Despite claims by staff and Council members that the current pound needs replacing because it would cost too much to repair; there are no reports to substantiate this. Our City engineering department has no reports on file stating that there is anything wrong structurally with the existing building.
It is in good condition, in an excellent location and is operating at less than 30% capacity.
There are 20 or fewer dogs at the pound on any given day. The Pound is where dogs are kept temporarily. Animal control services are performed out in the parks and beaches and streets of Vancouver, not inside a building. It is inconceivable how $19 million could be spent for a pound. So on what basis did this become a priority?
2) Council was advised that the existing facility must be replaced in order to meet the needs of the new business model for animal control.
However there is no new business model (I did a freedom of information request for it), and yet Council went ahead and unanimously voted in favour of a new pound without any proof that this new model works let alone being concerned that one doesn’t even exist.
Despite the estimate of 50-60,000 dogs that staff claim reside in Vancouver, the fact is that it is estimated only 30% of the dog population have ever been licensed in the past 10 years. The actual number of licenses sold has remained remarkably steady despite the more than doubling of animal control staff from 11 to 25 and the doubling of the animal control budget.
The total revenue for fines for the first 6 months in 2008 amount to less than $9,000
What other sources of revenue are the City staff and Council relying upon to offset the cost of a pound which will run anywhere from $19 -$31 million.
3) In 2007 Council allocated $500,000 for a proposal to be developed for the new pound, (previously estimated to cost $15 million in 2005). However, staff appeared before Council in January of 2008 without the requested proposal to justify the new pound stating they did not want to spend the money as it would be a waste if Council didn’t approve their proposal.
Council accepted this perverse explanation of why the City staff would not submit any study which supported the building of a new dog pound by voting unanimously to include it in the budget.
Reports available to staff and Council show a dramatic decrease in animals being handled by our pound in the last 10 years. In fact numbers are down 40%. This is a trend in other shelters in North America. It is attributed to aggressive spay/neuter programs and the public’s growing awareness of responsible pet ownership.
Most impounded dogs are claimed by their owners within 24 hours. In fact there are so few dogs, only 6 dogs were from grow op seizures last year, that Vancouver has been importing them from SPCA’s all over the province.
-animal control budgets do not provide any detail on pound revenues. Money is being transferred in from unknown sources to reduce budget shortfalls.
-inconsistencies in reporting numbers of dog licenses sold
- dogs handled decreased by 40% since 1998 but there is now double the staff and budget for animal control yet there have been numerous complaints that City staff are not patrolling parks and beaches
-more licenses sold in previous years with half the number of current staff
The question is, for whose benefit is this Pound being built?
It’s certainly not for the residents of Vancouver or our dogs.
This is indicative of a budget out of control and a Council being led around on a leash by staff. The bigger question is if this is how the animal control project has been handled, how are other Capital Plan decisions being made?
What we need is an independent audit of all the City’s finances so that we can really know how our money is being spent and determine whether or not it is being spent in the interest and benefit of the residents of Vancouver.
For more information contact: Donna Liberson at liber@telus.net