HARRISVILLE -- The city will pay almost 29 percent more to Weber County Animal Control next year than it did in the past, with a larger fee increase forecast for the year after that.
Weber County will raise Harrisville's fee for animal control services by $18,808 next year, nearly a 29 percent increase.
Weber County officials found that the county was paying 80 to 82 percent of the animal control costs but using only 30 percent. They are rectifying this discrepancy by spreading out fees evenly, based on calls for service and population. This includes the cities the county serves.
"We're paying out more than we're getting in," said Weber County Sheriff's Lt. Chad Ferrin. He said the fee will probably increase even more next year because the current amount is based on reported calls rather than actual calls: 1,470 calls were reported, while there were 1,900 actual calls.
"There's about 500 calls countywide that didn't get reports generated," said Ferrin. "The officers didn't write a report on everything they did, and that benefited the city."
Harrisville specifically had 132 reported calls versus 160 actual calls.
Harrisville City Council has considered doing animal control in-house, but decided that would be more expensive after taking into account new employees, a vehicle, location, after-hours calls, and other factors.
"To have an animal officer respond 365 days, in the middle of the night, middle of storms, Christmas, it doesn't make a difference, it's a heck of a deal," said Ferrin.
The suggestion of joining North Ogden or Pleasant View's animal services was brought up, but Harrisville Police Chief Max Jackson said neither city wants to add to their current load, and it would probably be more expensive to do so.
"The service we've been getting from the county is pretty darn good," said Jackson.
Councilman Bruce Richins pointed out that the county has the means to take care of a variety of animals, from the traditional such as cats and dogs to more the more exotic such as snakes, and even large animals such as horses.
"We've had some major brouhahas with large animals getting out in traffic," Richins said. "It's good to have the extra bodies and equipment when you need it."
Animal control officers are encouraged to be more proactive rather than only patrolling and reacting to situations. The officers contact residents and help them keep licenses up to date in addition to answering calls.
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