City is fixing its spay-and-neuter ordinance

Published 6:19 am Tuesday, February 26, 2008

EDMONDS – It appears likely that by sometime early in the coming year, all animals adopted in the city will be spayed or neutered before being turned over to their new owners.

The ordinance that the city approved at the end of 2002 – but that has yet to be implemented for a variety of reasons – will go into effect when contractual issues with the city’s animal shelter can be finalized.

The issue will be brought back to the City Council’s Public Safety Committee on Jan. 13 and likely to the full Council in the ensuing weeks, said City Council member Michael Plunkett, who led the 2002 petition drive that got the ordinance approved.

The successful petition called both for mandatory spaying and neutering of animals and for a $5,000 city-financed fund to be set up to pay for the surgeries. But the petition violated state law by legislating a funding method, according to city attorney Scott Snyder.

So at the end of 2002, the City Council – which had the choice of itself approving the ordinance or sending it to the voters – approved it, with the idea that it would likely create a separate, parallel ordinance outlining the funding method.

But over the course of 2003, uncertainty over where the money would come from, legal details regarding the petition and logistics over how it would be carried out postponed any action on it, officials said.

Now, the city is getting close to finishing a new contract with Adix’s Bed and Bath for Dogs and Cats. Adix’s started strictly as a pet boarding business until several years ago when it began contracting with the city of Edmonds to provide shelter for stray animals from Edmonds and from Mountlake Terrace, which in turn contracts with Edmonds for animal control services.

The city currently pays Adix’s approximately $22,000 per year for shelter services, said Police Chief David Stern. The new contract will be amended to compensate Adix’s for additional days animals have to be sheltered after they are fixed, he said. The contract then would be reviewed after six months to see “what the costs have been and how we would address it,” Stern said. A contract for spay-neuter services with Edmonds-Westgate Veterinary Hospital is also in the works.

A rough, ballpark figure of $65 is being considered as a spay-neuter fee, in addition to the $25 currently charged, Stern said. It is hoped that fee will cover all the costs, Stern said. The increase would bring the cost of adopting a pet in Edmonds closer to the “industry standard” in the area, Plunkett said, which he said is about $75.

Lynn Adix, who runs Adix’s with her husband, Jim, said they’ve never had a problem with the idea of spaying and neutering. Their concerns were how it would be implemented and who would pay for it, she said.

Adix said details of the contract are still being discussed, but she expressed optimism about the outcome.

“It’s going to work,” she said. “I can’t imagine there’s going to be any problem.”