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HomeMy WebLinkAboutRecommended 2016-2017 Operating BudgetAnimal Services Phone Number: (919) 942 - 7387 Website: http://www.orangecountync.gov/animalservices Account: 215 Personnel Services1,511,3451,656,3181,656,3181,674,5411,723,3211,694,505 Operations254,456302,473312,423298,030302,699302,699 Capital Outlay6,930019,40119,4011,3751,375 Total Expenditures1,772,732$ 1,958,791$ 1,988,141$ 1,991,972$ 2,027,395$ 1,998,579$ Offsetting Revenues(636,669)(661,418)(675,400)(668,262)(638,265)(650,865) County Costs (net)1,136,063$ 1,297,373$ 1,312,741$ 1,323,710$ 1,389,130$ 1,347,714$ Account: 2150 Personnel Services000000 Operations51,63764,15073,24051,00052,00064,600 Total Expenditures51,637$ 64,150$ 73,240$ 51,000$ 52,000$ 64,600$ Offsetting Revenues(46,794)(64,150)(64,480)(55,696)(52,000)(64,600) County Costs (net)4,843$ 0$ 8,760$ (4,696)$ 0$ 0$ 2014-15 Actual Expenditures 2015-16 Original Budget 2015-16 Revised Budget 2015-16 12-Month Estimate 2016-17 Department Requested 2016-17 Manager Recommended By Category (General Fund) Spay/Neuter Fund Total Animal Services and Related Expenditures1,824,369$ 2,022,941$ 2,061,381$ 2,042,972$ 2,079,395$ 2,050,579$ Administration367,077379,162385,030378,106382,113382,113 Animal Control520,525548,055549,223555,749559,673559,673 Animal Shelter885,1301,031,5741,053,8891,058,1171,085,6091,056,793 Total Expenditures1,772,732$ 1,958,791$ 1,988,141$ 1,991,972$ 2,027,395$ 1,998,579$ Offsetting Revenue(636,669)(661,418)(675,400)(668,262)(638,265)(650,865) County Costs (net)1,136,063$ 1,297,373$ 1,312,741$ 1,323,710$ 1,389,130$ 1,347,714$ Total Expenditures1,772,732$ 1,958,791$ 1,988,141$ 1,991,972$ 2,027,395$ 1,998,579$ Division Summary 2014-15 Actual Expenditures 2015-16 Original Budget 2015-16 Revised Budget 2015-16 12-Month Estimate 2016-17 Department Requested 2016-17 Manager Recommended By Program (General Fund) Mission Statement The Animal Services Department strives to meet the needs of residents by working with volunteers and other partners to deliver cost-effective and integrated sheltering and animal control services that ensure the health, safety and wellbeing of humans, pets and the community as a whole. Addressing the problem of pet overpopulation with a proactive and positive approach is an integral ingredient of the department’s mission. Animal Services – continued Animal Services Administration Division Major Services • Organizational Leadership and Oversight o Lead organizational and policy change and conduct policy and operational analysis as needed. o Shape a positive and proactive model of animal services based upon excellent animal sheltering and effective management of pet overpopulation. o Coordinate with County Manager, County Attorney and other county staff in regard to departmental affairs and assure sound financial management. • Governance and Community Relations o Provide staff expertise and support to the Board of Commissioners and coordinate effectively with the Animal Services Advisory Board (ASAB). o Receive, respond to, and as needed refer citizen complaints and requests and address stakeholder concerns. o Maintain a positive community image through professional public relations. • Program Development and Administration o Maintain an effective pet licensing program, including an online payment system. o Coordinate and further develop a robust and integrated volunteer program. o Coordinate and manage a state-of-the-art spay/neuter program as part of strategic plan for managing pet overpopulation in the county. FY 2015-16 Outcomes • Organizational leadership: o Continued work with county staff and staff from the towns of Hillsborough, Chapel Hill and Carrboro to create and implement the Unified Animal Ordinance (effective March 1, 2016). o Sustained targeted spay and neuter efforts while exploring different strategies to achieve desired outcomes in coming years. o Coordinated policies and practices to continue to control animal admissions, assure quality care and sheltering, and reduce the euthanasia of cats and dogs. • Governance and community relations: o Worked with ASAB to hear stakeholder concerns and address assorted issues, including research involving shelter animals, and pets belonging to homeless people and victims of domestic violence. o Continued to work toward adoption of a unified animal ordinance. Worked in coordination with staff from the towns of Chapel Hill and Carrboro to get the ordinance passed by the boards of those towns as well as the BOCC. o Sustained a strong web presence including a vibrant Facebook page, and overall, maintained a prominent and positive community image. Animal Services – continued • Program administration and development: o Oversaw and sustained a volunteer program averaging approximately 1000 hours per month. o Oversaw a community spay/neuter program responsible for hundreds of surgeries and involving close collaboration with the Department of Social Services and AnimalKind (which runs The $20 Fix). o Collaborated with staff and others to begin to carry out a balanced and manageable plan to address free-roaming cats as part of the county’s effort to effectively manage pet overpopulation o Oversaw a pet registration program with a strong web-licensing component responsible for total revenues of almost $250,000. Performance Measures 2013-14 Actual 2014-15 Actual 2015-16 Budget 2015-16 Projected 2016-17 Budget Service: Provide low-cost or free spay/neuter surgeries to target audience Number of low-cost spays and neuters 465 479 525 300 400 Percentage of target SN number (Target > 5 per 1,000 humans) Goal = 600 77% Goal = 600 80% Goal = 600 88% Goal=600 79% Goal=600 79% Service: Pet Licensing Program Total number 20,833 19,367 19,000 19,149 19,350 Online licensing percentage 26% 28% 27% 33% 35% Service: Maintain strong Volunteer Program Average weekly volunteer hours 234 232 265 250 250 Number of annual volunteers 1,794 1,738 1,825 750* 800* Service: Community Relations and Leadership Admitted (cats and dogs) • Per 1,000 humans 2,949 21 2,879 21 2,700 19 2,755 20 2,700 19 Euthanasia (cats and dogs) • Per 1,000 humans 801 6 813 6 750 7 757 6 725 5 * New computer program adds actual yearly volunteers, whereas approach before added individual number of monthly volunteers, causing regular volunteers to be counted up to 12 times in one year Animal Services – continued FY 2016-17 Objectives • Continued implementation of new Unified Animal Ordinance, including continued collaboration with towns and working through implementation of the new appeal process based on Animal Services Hearing Panel Pool. • Increase pace of free-roaming cat initiatives based upon the plan set forth in Managing Free-Roaming Cats in Orange County, North Carolina. • Program changes and development for the Community Spay and Neuter Program given changes in the state reimbursement program and oversight of continuing changes in health care practices to make more cats and dogs available for adoption. Budget Highlights The FY2016-17 Manager’s Recommended Budget includes no significant budget changes. Animal Shelter Division Major Services • Open Admissions Sheltering o Provide shelter to stray, relinquished, quarantined, and confiscated animals as an open-admission shelter pursuant to applicable regulations. o Facilitate owner recovery and placement of animals. o Euthanize stray, relinquished, quarantined, or confiscated animals as needed. • Lost Pet Recovery o Perform microchip scanning and rabies tag searches to identify pet owners. o Maintain a website for online searches of lost pets. o Facilitate lost and found inquiries and lost pet searches. o Offer microchip implantation at select Rabies Clinics and as an optional service for our adopters and placement partners; require microchipping for owners recovering stray pets. • Animal Placement o Maintain a website for online searches for adoptable pets. o Adopt medically and behaviorally sound animals from the Animal Services Center into permanent homes. o Transfer animals to placement partners for final re-homing. • Animal Health o Address pet overpopulation by ensuring dogs and cats are sterilized prior to adoption in a cost-effective manner. o Manage infectious disease through health protocols and practices to ensure the health of sheltered, reclaimed, and adopted animals. o Selectively identify and treat medical conditions that previously limited the adoption of specific groups of cats and dogs. Animal Services – continued FY 2015-16 Outcomes • Open Admissions Sheltering: Positively managed “flow-through” for shelter animals; coordinated with staff from the County’s Asset Management Services (AMS) to convert stainless steel cat enclosures to flexibly increase their size; continued recent trend of reducing euthanasia of sheltered animals; implemented a new fee structure for recovered pets that includes higher fees, a differential between sterilized and intact pets, and a sterilization deposit for intact pets recovered three (3) or more times to incentivize sterilization. • Lost Pet Recovery: Improved upon electronic management of lost and found pet records by modifying our website to allow members of the public to see approximate locations where lost pets were found; maintained Twitter page to leverage social media for sharing real-time listings of found pets; offered six microchip clinics to enhance identification and recovery of lost pets by their owners; began requiring microchipping for all stray pets recovered by their owners. • Animal Placement: Maintained strong overall placement and “live release” rates; continued special events to promote pet adoption, including the introduction of several “flash” adoption specials with more flexible fees and shorter durations to boost placements when the shelter was reaching capacity; continued to work with partner organizations to rehome pets and established Facebook page to improve communication and coordination with staff and partner organizations. • Animal Health: Sustained in-house sterilization surgeries for adoptable animals; continued to optimize hourly productivity and quality of in-house sterilization procedures; expanded options for pet insurance by partnering with a second company that offers a 30-day free trial of pet insurance with adopted animals; initiated treatment of heartworm positive dogs deemed highly adoptable; identified lower cost alternatives for medical supplies (vaccines, diagnostic testing) to better manage services without increased cost in these areas. Performance Measures 2013-14 Actual 2014-15 Actual 2015-16 Budget 2015-16 Projected 2016-17 Budget Service: Serve as open admission shelter Domestic animals admitted (cats & dogs) • Cats admitted • Dogs admitted 2,949 1,391 1,558 2,879 1,414 1,465 2,700 1,266 1,434 2,727 1,512 1,215 2,700 1,404 1,296 Average Length of Stay (cats & dogs) • Cats (target 21 days) • Dogs (target 14 days) 24.8 14.1 22.8 12.8 21.0 14.0 23.4 13.6 21.0 14.0 Service: Facilitate recovery of lost pets (dogs and cats) Animal Services – continued Performance Measures 2013-14 Actual 2014-15 Actual 2015-16 Budget 2015-16 Projected 2016-17 Budget Number of recoveries 441 408 450 355 400 Stray animal recovery rate (all animals) (Target 25%) • Stray recovery rate for cats • Stray recovery rate for dogs 21% 7% 34% 22% 8% 34% 25% 15% 35% 20% 4% 40% 25% 15% 40% Microchips per Adoption (Target 65%) 69% 54% 65% 48% 60% Service: Maintain strong overall placement and “live release” rates ** Number of placements (cats & dogs) • Cat placements • Dog placements 1,666 815 851 1,625 830 795 1,700 850 850 1,654 922 732 1,700 901 799 Live Release rate (all animals) (Target 80.0%)** • Live release rate for cats • Live release rate for dogs 84% 79% 86% 83% 80% 87% 85% 85% 85% 88% 81% 95% 85% 85% 85% Service: Sustain high quality in-house sterilization surgeries for adoptable animals Number of animals sterilized 1,228 1,260 1,250 1,229 1.250 Number of surgeries per DVM hour (Target 2.8) 3.0 2.8 3.0 2.6 3.0 **The live release rate represents the sum of animals adopted, transferred to placement partners, and recovered by owners divided by the number of adoptable animals (this designation excludes unplaceable animals such as aggressive or biting animals, animals exposed to rabies, animals surrendered for euthanasia, feral animals, etc.) that left the shelter. FY 2016-17 Objectives • Continue to advance animal placement through new and established adoption special events, using more flexible fees to attract adopters and increase adoptions, as well as partnerships with placement partner organizations. • Continue to advance animal care within the context of an open-admission facility oriented in the expeditious “flow through” of adoptable animals; work to expand network of foster homes for providing care to litters of kittens. • Increase owner recovery of stray animals by continuing to offer opportunities for pets to be microchipped via low-cost clinics and as an optional service for adopters and partners, requiring microchipping for stray pets recovered from the shelter, virtually managing lost and Animal Services – continued found records, and leveraging social media and online resources to share information about found pets. • Sustain in-house sterilization services for adoptable animals by focusing on quality and maintaining hourly efficiency. • Continue infectious disease control through preventative health care and examinations to ensure “herd health” for the benefit of pet owners and adopters; treat one or more specific health condition(s) that previously limited the adoptability of cats and dogs; begin to develop and implement new metrics for assessing the health of shelter animals. • Continue to use our more flexible and discretionary fee schedule for adoptable animals in order to remain highly competitive in the regional marketplace and place as many adoptable animals as possible without significant adverse impact to revenue. • Partner with Human Resources to capitalize on partnership opportunities with regional schools to obtain Animal Shelter Interns. Budget Highlights The FY16-17 Manager’s Recommended Budget includes: • Continued use of donated funds available from the Orange County Community Giving Fund to support additional veterinary services and to treat specific health conditions previously limiting the adoptability of cats and dogs. • An increase microchipping of pets by requiring that all stray cats and dogs recovered are microchipped resulting in a projected gain of microchip revenues ($8,625). • An increase in recovery fees (projected revenue gain of $10,608) by implementing a more progressive tiered and differential fee schedule for owned pets recovered from the shelter. • An additional $6,000 (total of $12,000) in Seasonal personnel funds. These funds will be used to help staff the shelter during peak months and to supplement for permanent position vacancies within the Shelter. Animal Control & Protection Division Major Services • General Field Service o Respond to service requests in a timely, priority-based manner; work wih residents to achieve compliance and enforce animal laws; provide contractual animal control service to the towns of Chapel Hill, Hillsborough, and Carrboro. o Impound and/or confiscate animals that are running at large, surrendered by their owners, behaving aggressively, and are neglected or treated inhumanely; attempt to identify stray or lost animals and return to owners when possible. o Confer with staff attorney and coordinate with district attorney regarding criminal matters. • Public Health and Safety o Investigate animal bites and rabies exposures and implement proper public health protocols, such as rabies testing and quarantines. Animal Services – continued o Review reported animal bites and aggressive incidents; declare dogs potentially dangerous or vicious; make available an appeal hearing for potentially dangerous dog declarations, pursuant to the requirements of NCGS. o Coordinate with Communicable Disease Nurses who are responsible for human risk assessment and advice in rabies exposure cases. • Animal Protection o Investigate animal neglect and cruelty complaints and work with animal owners to achieve compliance with legal requirements. o Seize animals for their protection when necessary and institute appropriate legal action regarding their custody as well as criminal prosecution o Inform and educate owners on proper animal care as requiredby the county’s animal ordinance and North Carolina General Statute. • Community Service o Inform and educate pet owners and others about requirements and responsible pet ownership in the course of normal duties. o Promote responsible pet ownership; faciliate public outreach regarding low-cost rabies vaccination clinics; refer pet owners to the county’s Community Spay/Neuter Program. o Provide basic information regarding wildlife and refer residents to area resources as well as the Wildlife Resource Commission for further assistance (except when there are issues of public health and safety). FY 2015-16 Outcomes • General Field Services: o Continued to coordinate with Emergency Services staff to obtain portable radios and base station for Animal Control Officers (ACOs) and dispatch services to allow more efficient dispatching, ensure officer safety and improve coordination with County Communications and other agencies. o Began implementing the county’s new Unified Animal Ordinance (effective March 1, 2016), based upon extensive staff training and public outreach. • Public Health and Safety: o Investigated rabies exposures and managed all positive rabies cases (including coordination with Communicable Disease Nurses). o Provided public information about the control and prevention of rabies; investigated animal bite reports and conducted confinement for rabies control. o Reviewed each bite case or aggressive incident report to determine if an animal should be declared vicious and/or dangerous and served those declarations in a timely manner. o Implemented procedural changes, in coordination with the county’s Health Director, based upon the recommendations of the 2016 Rabies Compendium, namely, by requiring 4 rather than 6 month quarantines for unvaccinated dogs and cats when there is a rabies exposure and allowing cats and dog that are Animal Services – continued unvaccinated but have a documented history of vaccination to receive a booster shot. • Animal Protection: o Coordinated efforts between different Animal Services staff in several investigations. o Worked closely with the county attorney and the district attorney in numerous cases of cruelty and neglect o Received a grant from the ASPCA for Animal Cruelty and Neglect Investigations for assorted resources (including digital cameras, optics, and veterinary forensic kits) that will allow staff to continuously be on site and have a work area to collect and process evidence in a large-scale investigation. • Community Service: o Continued to raise community awareness for special events, education, and public health and safety by posting flyers throughout Orange County and speaking with citizens one-on-one as they assist residents with animal issues. o Initiate connections between animal owners, the county’s Community Spay Neuter Program, and community partners. o Participated in events such as the summer camp programs at Rogers Road. Performance Measures 2013-14 Actual 2014-15 Actual 2015-16 Budget 2015-16 Projected 2016-17 Budget Service: General Field Services Service Responses • Responses Per Officer 6189 1031 6179 1029 6000 998 6122 1019 6100 1015 Animal Impounds 878 766 870 838 824 Met Stray Animal Response Target (<120 minutes) 68% 67% 75% 70% 73% Service: Health and Safety Rabies Exposure and Bite Investigations 470 456 450 458 454 Met Response Target (<90 minutes) 53% 55% 55% 55% 58% Positive Rabies Cases 20 12 20 17 16 Service: Animal Protection Investigations 479 418 447 443 431 Met Response Target (<90 minutes) 47% 47% 60% 51% 52% Animal Services – continued FY 2016-17 Objectives • Continue efficient and effective service in towns as well as the county, providing detailed and timely updates to residents and working with community partners. • Work through the full implementation of the new Unified Animal Ordinance (providing ongoing feedback to ensure that issues are identified and addressed through the implementation process. • Continue to provide effective rabies control and control of dangerous animals based upon timely investigations and effective enforcement of the requirements for keeping such an animal. • Continue to follow the new recommendations contained in the 2016 Rabies Compendium, ensuring that county procedures are informed by the changes that ensure from new approaches to managing exposures to unvaccinated animals and animals with lapsed vaccinations. • Continue to coordinate effectively between different staff within Animal Services, the county’s staff attorney and the District Attorney, and other county departments and agencies in the investigation and resolution of animal cruelty and neglect complaints. • Utilize new resources available from the ASPCA for Animal Protection and Cruelty and Neglect Investigations including the use of digital cameras for documentation of scenes and animal body conditions. • Continue to promote community awareness for special events, responsible pet ownership and different public health and safety issues by posting assorted flyers throughout Orange County and through direct contact with residents. • Continue to refer residents to the county’s Community Spay Neuter Program and community partners in regard to fencing, cat care, and wildlife. Budget Highlights The FY2016-17 Manager’s Recommended Budget includes: • A decrease in revenue from service agreements with the towns by $11,159, primarily as a result of Hillsborough using a smaller percentage of services than last year. • An increase of $1,632 in Overtime as part of a 3-year phase-in to reduce total number of comped out hours.