|
City wrestles restless topics 
Send a link to a friend
Animal control contract revisited
[SEPT.
29, 2006]
Aldermen took a few minutes to review a request
from the county that would increase the animal control fee the city
pays for service. City sanitation chairman Melody Anderson received
information that the county would like to raise Lincoln's fee 58
percent.
|
|
County animal control chairman Vickie Hasprey cited numerous reasons
for the increase when she visited the city sanitation committee a
few weeks ago. Funds are needed for truck and cage replacements as
well as building improvements. Anderson said she looked again at
the county cost and expense figures for the facility, particularly
from August to November, "They still look good for this year," she
said.
"Does it solve their problem? No," she said.
The urgency is on the county as they are making up their fiscal
year budget, Anderson said. She noted that the city's contract is
not up until May of 2007.
Anderson passed out spreadsheets and said that the last time the
county budget shows they actually allocated money to the animal
control budget was in the 1999-2000 fiscal year. She said she did
see that there was a projected accumulation of negative $62,000 for
the 2004-2005 fiscal year, but that figure could come in even
higher. The county will not know what it was until their audit is
returned. Anderson didn't know how they dealt with the loss that is
shown each year since 1999.
Anderson said she had contacted Hasprey to say that they
understood the figures and that it would be very difficult for the
council to accept any kind of an increase without some justification
on the county's part to show that they're putting in money to
subsidize it as well.
[to top of second column] |
 The city treasurer, Les Plotner, questioned what the county's
negative budget figures meant. He asked, "Who's making up the money
[the loss difference]?"
"I don't know, but they'd like to balance it on our back,"
Anderson said.
City attorney Bill Bates said he thought that what the council
needs to be prepared for is that the county is looking at the state
statutes, trying find an interpretation where they don't have to
provide services for municipalities.
Anderson suggested that this should then be something the city
should be thinking about in the next couple of months, so that, come
April, they can review their options.
[Jan
Youngquist]
City wrestles restless topics
|
