Province considers contracting SPCA to take over rural animal control

A13

By Meg Edwards
TIMES & TRANSCRIPT STAFF

Stumble Upon

del.icio.us

Digg

Facebook

Print

Email

Speak Up

Rural residents take pride in their self-sufficiency.

If the power goes out you have to man your own sump pump, and if an unknown dog is hanging out in your yard you have to call your neighbours to find out where it belongs.

Rural residents are accustomed to solving their own problems but they are also accustomed to low taxes. A bill that is now in the first reading and could be law by Jan. 1 of next year could increase taxes as well as services to Local Service Districts and rural areas.

A bill has been introduced that would legislate the province to contract the NBSPCA to take over rural animal control. The bill, if passed, will create a full-time and consistent regulation force to deal with animal control. The proposed system will be set up to manage, register and license dogs in the LSDs and rural communities at the cost of $500,000 per year.

Wanda Wood, a Baie Verte resident and self-professed animal lover, feels like she would be on the fence on this situation. She would not argue with the increase in taxes if it helped to protect animals, but she wonders whether the increased services are necessary.

In her experience, the present services have been effective: when she called about a wandering dog recently, an animal control worker came out from Salisbury and she has not seen the dog since.

For Wood, the tax increase would be about $31 dollars a year -- the new bill would increase the LSD portion of rural taxes by .38 per cent per $100 of assessment -- and Wood's house is assessed and taxed at about $80,000.

Stephen Werry, secretary of the Baie Verte LSD, says he supports the idea but would like to know more details about how much the system will cost and how the proposed 'dog constables' will work.

In a recent letter to the Times & Transcript, he posits that the $500,000 annual cost "will balloon up to $1 million within a year".

The cost to the taxpayer for 'dog control' has, until now, been included under the provincial fixed tax rate of 65 cents per $100 of property assessment.

The provincial services portion of rural residential taxes also includes policing, road works and administration.

The cost for the 'dog constables' will now be added to the LSD portion of rural taxes, one that includes fire protection, rural planning, operation of parks and community halls, garbage collection and administration.

Werry is concerned that other services that are presently handled by the province will be re-routed to the Local Service Districts. Wood also wonders whether the bill is the beginning of a slippery slope,

"If they get this bill through it will be a case of 'let's see what else we can get through.'"