THE FOLLOWING IS A NEWS-GAZETTE STORY BY JENNIFER BAILEY
ABOVE: The Vermilion County Animal Shelter is located on Catlin-Tilton Road
Annual intake from Danville: More than 1,300 animals
It’s been 11 years since the last contract was approved for Vermilion County to provide animal control services for the city of Danville.
County officials say what they’ve been charging the city for services hasn’t been keeping up with total costs, and it’s overdue for renegotiation.
Vermilion County Board Chairman Steve Miller said he’d like a decision made by the city’s new fiscal year, starting May 1, but that’s not a hard resolution deadline.
“We simply can’t spend close to $2 million a year on animal regulation,” Miller said. “I don’t think the public will support it, and I don’t think the board is interested in spending that kind of money, especially when the genesis of, the big part of that is another entity that has more money than we do.”
“The essence of that agreement is that the county assumed the enforcement responsibilities for the city’s ordinances dealing with animals,” Miller said.
That 2014 contract has not been updated.
“For whatever reasons, I don’t know if it’s COVID or inflation, we have a lot more animals coming our way than ever before,” Miller said. “I think a lot of people are just finding it unable to keep their animals given the economic circumstances of the country.”
“And what we have been spending at the county for animal control, frankly, has gone through the roof,” he added.
This year, the county budgeted $1.861 million. That’s up from $1.5 million the year before. This year’s budget includes $232,000 for shelter maintenance work.
“And frankly, I think it’s ridiculous for us to be spending that kind of money,” Miller said. “Most of the dogs are coming from the city of Danville. They are paying us roughly $8,000 a month.”
Miller said that amount isn’t enough from the city of Danville.
Miller is working closely with Kasey Snyder, Vermilion County Department of Animal Regulation and Shelter director, in providing city and county officials with statistics.
“One of the things that we’re going to have to do is either have a substantial readjustment of the financial arrangement with the city, or we’ll have to ask the city to find a different means of enforcing their ordinances.”
Miller has met with Danville Mayor Rickey Williams Jr. and an alderman, and Miller said it was a constructive meeting.
“I think they are taking this matter seriously. I’m very pleased with the response that they gave us when they reviewed this information,” Miller said.
For example, more than half of the 2023 reported dog-bite cases came from the city, Miller said.
The intake from Danville alone is more than 1,300 animals a year. Out of all jurisdiction animal intakes, Danville’s animal intake numbers over the last four years average 53 percent, according to the county. For all other jurisdictions, other than Danville, the shelter saw 1,206 animals in 2024.
The county also says the current contract is missing: owner surrender animals, deceased animal pickup and disposal, employee time to provide daily care to animals, spay/neuter cost, medical costs incurred from city animals (treatable injuries/infections/behavior medications), microchip services, booster vaccines and euthanasia services.
The county also had a needs assessment study completed last year on its shelter on Catlin-Tilton Road.
Miller said the bottom line is that the building is worn out and needs to have repairs to it.
“But it simply was not built to handle this volume of animals,” Miller said. “And there are animals everywhere out there. It’s not good for the animals, it’s not good for the staff, and we have to do something to reduce the number of animals that are being taken to the shelter or kept at the shelter. We need another facility.”
“In my dream of dreams, I would very much like the city to have something akin to an adoption center, for lack of a better term, that would be more appealing to the public to go to, to look at the animals and to consider adoption. A better place for the animals to be presented. The better the presentation, the more apt that people are to make an adoption. And frankly, we’re not being as humane I think in the housing of these animals with the facility that we now have,” Miller said.
So, whether it’s a county-owned facility, or city-owned facility, or a joint undertaking, local officials still are sorting out what’s the best combination.
“But I know that the city officials would like to have a facility in Danville and probably closer to the north end of Danville, just for an aesthetic, appealing to the public,” Miller said.
He said they’re in the embryonic stage of finding a possible location of an existing building. The building has to be specifically designed to store animals and have outside runs.
Miller said the huge volumes of animals which have gone through the county’s Catlin-Tilton Road shelter, “have really compromised that facility. It was not built for this volume.”
Williams couldn’t be reached for comment.
The city’s new budget starting in May shows $125,000 budgeted for animal control.
The Humane Society of Danville on Collett Street became a nonprofit, no-kill shelter in 2014 and no longer receives city funding.
FOR COMPLETE ACCESS TO NEWS-GAZETTE STORY PLEASE GO TO https://www.news-gazette.com/news/vermilion-county-animal-shelter-decisions-forthcoming-regarding-citys-expenses/article_a0b9e6b2-ea2b-11ef-ac2f-9f27b6c4e63e.html
