Kaufman County officials plan to open an animal shelter on land the county owns near the Law Enforcement Center in Kaufman.
County Judge Bruce Wood proposed setting aside $250,000 in the 2016-2017 fiscal year budget for the construction of the facility. County officials began discussing plans to build an animal shelter in 2013 after the Humane Society of Cedar Creek Lake requested more money for taking in animals seized by animal control officers.
The animal shelter near Tool asked the county to begin paying per animal fees rather than a flat annual fee of $75,000 in 2013-2014 as proposed by the county.
In the latest communication from the organization to the county, Humane Society officials asked the county to begin paying $11,500 per month for the dogs it shelters.
Wood said that would be more than the county could afford to pay. The animal shelter now charges $75 per animal, and the highest monthly amount paid during the past fiscal year was $6,150 for 82 animals, he said.
Humane Society officials said declining donations from the public and an increase in abandoned animals led to the organization’s effort to increase county funding in 2013.
County officials said they planned to seek an alternative to the Tool animal shelter when the current contract expires Oct. 31, pending the construction of its own animal shelter.
When the animal shelter is built, county officials said they hoped a nonprofit group would help with finding homes for the animals.
Henderson County also provides funds for the Tool shelter and another shelter in Athens. In 2012-2013 the Tool shelter received only $13,000 from Henderson County, representing about 25 percent of what Kaufman County paid for services.
In a recent fundraising letter to the public, Humane Society officials said the loss of income from Kaufman County would be crippling. In 2014, the organization raised $241,263, but it spent $271,325 for a net loss of $30,062, according to the Form 990 filed with the Internal Revenue Service.
Kaufman County officials said they planned to continue using Feline Rescue Services of Kaufman County on a quarterly basis for the time being. It charges $65 per cat and $15 per nursing kitten. The cat rescue operation would help the county find homes for the cats when the new shelter is built, according to the current plan.