Strays could suffer city budget woes

Bryce Alderton

Stray cats and dogs may end up the unfortunate victims of the city’s

budget woes.

For two years, members of Save Our Strays have been pressing the city

to open and operate a humane animal shelter in Huntington Beach that

would care for stray animals.

While the Humane Society on Newland Street caters to Huntington Beach

residents, the strays the private organization takes in are solely from

Westminster and Costa Mesa.

Members of Save Our Strays hope that, like the Humane Society, the new

shelter would not euthanize a healthy animal.

Karen Chepeka of Save Our Strays said she also would like to see such

a place, where the city has more control of the animals taken in, gain

volunteer support.

“You have more control if [the shelter] is in your own community, and

we don’t feel we have much of a say right now with the county’s shelter,”

Chepeka said.

Chepeka would also like to see a decreased euthanasia rate. The county

euthanasia rates for dogs and cats from Huntington Beach are 17% and 74%,

respectively.

But what the people want and what they can get are two different

things. Especially at times when money is tight.

Just last month, the City Council approved a long-debated budget that

went through tough cuts before $8 million in programs were chopped off.

Within that budget constraint, the city pays $427,000 to Orange County

for services such as animal control, shelter costs, inspections of

businesses and vaccinations.

But establishing a new humane animal shelter in the city would cost

$2.5 million annually, according to a study completed in February by the

consulting firm Meyer & Allen Assn.

That’s $2 million the city doesn’t have right now.

And Pete Grant, a senior administrator for the city, doesn’t know

where the extra money would come from because the city’s general fund

simply doesn’t have any excess revenue to spend.

City staff members don’t believe the deficit could be made up with fee

increases or grants.

Still, there is some hope for the Save Our Stray people. A city

committee formed in March is continuing to look into the possibility of

building a shelter.

The committee consists of Mayor Pam Julien Houchen and Councilwomen

Debbie Cook and Connie Boardman.

“We will pursue [a shelter] if it makes sense fiscally, but we have to

be fiscally responsible,” Julien Houchen said.

The committee is waiting to see a long-term contract proposal by the

county, which is entertaining ideas of relocating its current shelter

from Orange to Tustin, which would be further away from Huntington Beach.

The City Council has not taken any action nor has any action pending

regarding a long-term contract with the county.