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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAgenda - 04-19-2011 - 4cORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT Meeting Date: April 19, 2011 Action Agenda Item No. L(- - C SUBJECT: NCACC Outstanding County Program Award for Orange County's Community Spay/Neuter Program DEPARTMENT: Animal Services PUBLIC HEARING: (Y/N) No Social Services ATTACHMENT(S): Application for 2010 Outstanding County Program Award INFORMATION CONTACT: Bob Marotto, Animal Services Director, 968-2287 Nancy Coston, Social Services Director, 245-2802 PURPOSE: For the North Carolina Association of County Commissioners (NCACC) as part of its celebration of National County Government Month to present the County and the Animal Services and Social Services Departments with a 2010 Outstanding County Program Award for the County's Community Spay/Neuter Program. BACKGROUND: Orange County's Community Spay/Neuter Program was selected by a distinguished panel of judges from across North Carolina for one of NCACC's 2010 Outstanding County Program Awards. As a winning program in the category of Human Services, Orange County's Community Spay/Neuter Program will be featured in the April issue of Countylines, NCACC's monthly publication. The Animal and Social Services Departments applied for the 2010 Outstanding County Program Award from the NCACC based on the implementation of a thorough and intricate Spay/Neuter program that was carefully developed with the help of others for many years. The program application is attached. The cornerstone of the Community Spay/Neuter Program is the creation of a three-way partnership between Orange County's Animal Services Department, the Department of Social Services (DSS) and AnimalKind, a Triangle-based non-profit organization dedicated to targeted spay/neuter for low-income residents. This interactive partnership and its outcomes were the subject of a presentation by Animal Services staff to the BOCC at its February meeting (see Animal Services' spay/neuter webpage http://www.co.orange.nc.us/animalservices/index.asp). The partnership includes and is based upon AnimalKind's "The $20 Fix" program, which offers qualifying members of the public the opportunity to have the cats and dogs spayed or neutered 2 for a co-pay of $20. Residents are eligible based upon AnimalKind's income qualifications and apply through AnimalKind for a voucher that can be used at a number of area vets. The Orange County program differs from those of others through its incorporation of DSS and clients. This first-ever program allows not only the traditional $20 co-pay surgeries but also a "no-pay" service to any client of certain DSS services. Though the partnership between County departments and non-profit organizations is the most recognizable and tangible portion of the Community Spay/Neuter Program, many other elements have contributed to and distinguish this program. The process began in 2007 with a BOCC-approved licensing differential between sterilized and unsterilized pets, for instance, and the dedication of the differential amount to a Community Spay Neuter Fund. This fund in turn is used to cover the costs of both no-pay and co-pay surgeries for qualifying Orange County residents, and is also used to promote awareness of the services through outreach, advertising, and educational materials. All of these elements area part of Animal Services' 2010 BOCC-approved plan titled, Managing Pet Overpopulation: AStrategic Plan for Orange County, North Carolina (available on the spay/neuter webpage referenced above). The plan presents afive-year framework for managing pet overpopulation. Among other things, it reviews research about pet overpopulation; discusses appropriate measurement of "targeted" spay and neuter and its affect on shelter intakes; and underscores the cost controls on animal services provided by effective management of overpopulation. FINANCIAL IMPACT: There is no financial impact associated with NCACC's presentation of the Award to the County and the Animal Services and Social Services Departments. RECOMMENDATION(S): The Manager recommends that the Board accept the 2010 NCACC Outstanding County Program Award for the County's Community Spay/Neuter Program. 3 N O R T H C A R O L I N A ASSOCIATION OP COUNTY COMMISSIONERS Application for 2010 Outstanding County Program Awards County (if multi-county entry, list all): Orange Submitted by: Bob Marotto Title: Director of Animal Services Nancy Coston Title: Director of Social Services Sarah Fallin Title: Animal Services Program Coordinator Terri Totherow Title: DSS Child and Family Medicaid Address: P.O Box 8181 Hillsborough, North Carolina 27278 Phone: (919) 968-2287 E-mail: bmarotto@co.oran e.nc.us The Association encourages electronic submissions. E-mail the application and project/program description to Lisa Nolen at lisa.nolen@ncacc.org. You can also fax your entry to (919) 733- 1065 (attn. Lisa Nolen), or mail it to: NCACC, 215 N. Dawson St., Raleigh, NC 27603. Applications must be postmarked by Monday, Feb. 28, 2011. Projects/programs must have been implemented or, for pre-existing programs, significantly improved between Jan. 1, 2009, and Dec. 31, 2010. For additional information and category criteria, visit www.ncacc.org/awards/ocpa/about.html. Project title: Community Spay Neuter Program Category (you may check more than one): ^ General Government ®Human Services ^ Public Information/Participation Address each of the following questions in a typed program/project summary in a separate Word document attached to this application form. Limit your responses to two pages. Use single- spaced lines and 12-point, Times New Roman font. Supporting materials may be submitted, but due to time constraints, judges may not review the materials. 1. What are the purpose, history, timeline and budget of the program/project? Will the county realize any projected cost savings? (For public information/participation programs, please try to estimate participation levels). 2. What makes the program/project unique? How does it differ from similar projects in your county or in other counties? 215 N. Dawson St, Raleigh, NC 27603 * Phone: (919) 715-2893 * Fax: (919) 733-1065 * www.ncacc.org 4 3. How well did the program use available resources, given the limitations on such resources? 4. Can this project be duplicated in other counties? If another county wanted to do a similar project, what advice would you give them to minimize obstacles and problems? 5. How did the project involve collaboration with other agencies, jurisdictions, nonprofits, businesses, etc.? How well did this collaboration work and is it on-going? 215 N. Dawson St, Raleigh, NC 27603 * Phone: (919) 715-2893 * Fax: (919) 733-1065 * www.ncacc.org 5 NCACC Outstanding County Program Awards Orange County's Community Spay & Neuter Program: A Summary February 28, 2011 This involves a three way partnership between the County's Animal Services Department, Social Services Departments and AnimalKind, a Triangle area non-profit. As Diagram I shows, this partnership brings together pets, their owners and vets, offering low-cost spay and neuter services to qualifying residents. The program is innovative and unique in creating this partnership to make pet sterilization available to residents of limited means, reduce "surplus pets" in County communities, and control the long-term costs of animal services. In 2010, the Board of County Commissioners received and approved Managing Pet Overpopulation: A Strategic Plan for Orange County, North Carolina. Animal Services staff and the County's Animal Services Advisory Board prepared this plan on the basis of ongoing discussions of the critical need to organize low-cost or no cost spay neuter options to targeted residents, and the view of many animal welfare experts that it is not possible to adopt our way out of the problem of pet overpopulation. The County had taken its initial step in this direction in 2007 when Commissioners increased the licensing fee for reproductive dogs and cats from $10 to $30 and committed the $20 differential to a Community Spay & Neuter Fund. As a result of this decision, approximately $25,000 is available annually from the licensing fee differential, and each year a significant portion of the County's expenditures have been reimbursed through the North Carolina Spay and Neuter Program. Because of our mutually beneficial partnership, based on strong and respectful working relations, we have been able to make very good use of available resources to provide pet sterilization to the County residents who are targeted by the program. In the last calendar year, 383 cat and dog spays and neuters were provided (a 70 percent increase from the prior year), and in 2009 the total was 225 (a 30 percent increase from the preceding year). It should be underscored that the pets of DSS clients accounted for 249 of the spays and neuters provided in 2010 and 127 of those provided in 2009. These are what we refer to as "no pay" spays and neuters, and most result from clients responding to program notices that DSS receives from Animal Services and places in monthly reports for a number of their public assistance programs. The "no-pay" option is available because of the expertise and influence of DSS staff, who asked for this option because they believed that even a $20 co-pay requirement would be cost-prohibitive. Almost all pet sterilizations are organized by our non-profit partner. As part of its The $20 Fix, AnimalKind enters into and manages its own agreements with various veterinary establishments. Under our annual agreement, AnimalKind administers the application process for Orange County residents (as it does generally for its own program), whether this is the no-pay option for DSS clients or the $20 co-pay for residents whose household income is less than 150 percent of the federal poverty level. 215 N. Dawson St, Raleigh, NC 27603 * Phone: (919) 715-2893 * Fax: (919) 733-1065 * www.ncacc.org 6 In just three years time, this program is already affecting the number of animals admitted at the County's Animal Services Center, the principal animal shelter in Orange County. As can be seen from the attached graph, in 2009 total intakes numbered 4036 compared to an average of 4315 for the period 2005-2009, and in 2010 there was a further reduction to 3613 animal admissions. Additionally, last year 75 fewer litters of cats and dogs were admitted than the average for the period 2007-2009. These changes are not inconsequential with respect to our operations and operating costs. We have been able to satisfactorily staff a new and larger facility into which Animal Services moved in June 2009 only as a result of reduced animal numbers and board days. Similarly, we have been able to satisfactorily manage a 15 percent operating budget reduction in FY1011 only as a result of reduced animal number and total days. All of this seems to bear out a primary contention of the County's strategic plan (above), namely, that targeted spay and neuter can help to control the costs of animal services and indeed needs to be done to in order to do so. The County's program includes other worthwhile and synergistic activities. For instance, Animal Services annual sterilization events including one done in conjunction with Spay Day USA, a national event sponsored by the Humane Society of the United States. Also, the program provides excellent opportunities for community outreach and education. Most recently, Animal Services staff member Andi Morgan developed a set of "Beat the Heat" flyers (samples attached) to encourage residents to spay and neuter their pets before the onset of "kitten and puppy season." The collaboration between Animal Services and DSS is unusual but there is no apparent reason that it cannot be replicated in other Counties, and our experience suggests there is much merit in doing so. The presence of AnimalKind in the Triangle area may be much more fortuitous for this program, Yet it is also true that there are now many initiatives and efforts with targeted sterilization throughout the United States (as evidenced by the emergent notion of "spay neuter industry professionals") and that other opportunities for partnering with non-governmental organizations may present themselves elsewhere. In closing, we would stress that our experience recommends a robust form of collaboration to advance social justice, address pet overpopulation, and help control the costs of animal services. We believe that it is because of our rich three-way partnership that our Commissioners have provided strong support for this important and innovative program. We are pleased to have been in the right place at the right time and fully aware of how much more we are able to do with one another than on our own. 215 N. Dawson St, Raleigh, NC 27603 * Phone: (919) 715-2893 * Fax: (919) 733-1065 * www.ncacc.org 7 ~~rnmunity S~paylleuter Pr~ram: What It Is & How It Works ~~rc~~;t~d p~y~*I~l~ut~ry I~~n~i~yir~~ ~ ~~~ r~~~nt ~ ~~~ c~~r~~~n its a~rit ~riti~~l reed fc~r ~~.~rln~ut~r er-,{i~~~ `'' d ~F ~~~~ ~' L~~~r~sir~ Diff+~rr~r~tial St~rfi~~d Pefs - $1 U~~t~rilz~~ F~et~ - 0 D~f~r~r~c~ _ $~fl r~r~^^ ~fe~~}}r~~iy~ I~F~nyr-~^~}~t this identifi~ ~c~p~al~~i~ar~~ ghat ~rc~~f+ ~~h~rutr[s~ ~c~t spay ~~, ~:~d rt~r~ter ~h~ir pits 5~ '~°.~ ~~rrt~'1#r~d `` Car~munity ~~ay~~J~c~t~er I=~ar~~ \ F1 215 N. Dawson St., Raleigh, NC 27603 * Phone: (919) 715-2893 * Fax: (919) 733-1065 * www.ncacc.org 215 N. 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