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PASCO -- Franklin County's budget problems are making the likelihood of the county finally addressing its animal control problem questionable.
With cuts and layoffs looming, there isn't any money to start animal control service for the unincorporated areas of Franklin County, said Commissioner Rick Miller.
The county has chopped about $2.2 million during 2009 and from the proposed 2010 budget.
That's meant county staff has been reduced by 19 since 2008, said Fred Bowen, county administrator.
Four positions were eliminated this year, and 15 more have been slashed for 2010.
Currently, the sheriff's department responds to reports of dangerous dogs, Miller said, but otherwise there is no animal control service for county residents.
The issue was highlighted last year when there was no help for an abandoned and injured dog that became known as Chocolate. The dog only was helped after stories in the Herald spurred an outpouring of public donations for surgery for the dog and its eventual adoption.
Pasco, Richland and Kennewick have formed the Tri-City Animal Control Authority, and the three cities jointly contract for control services.
Although the shelter is in Pasco, an animal control officer is assigned to each city, said Rick Terway, Pasco administrative and community services director. Pasco also pays for an additional officer and has random patrols.
Terway said residents in unincorporated areas of Franklin and Benton counties call animal control but the officers can't respond because the counties don't have a contract.
Ed Dawson, operations manager for the Benton-Franklin Humane Society, said the Humane Society receives more animal control calls from residents of unincorporated Benton County than from Franklin. But in many cases the nonprofit agency can't help.
Dawson said the shelter accepts only owner-surrendered animals. People have to provide veterinary and shot records to prove it's their animal, and the shelter doesn't accept lost or stray animals.
Miller said Franklin County could try to partner with the cities or Benton County. Still, he said, animal control would be expensive, even contracting to provide animal control for so-called "doughnut hole" unincorporated county lands surrounded by the city.
The city has offered to contract with the county for animal control service for the doughnut holes, Terway said, with the cost to the county depending on the level of service.
But Bowen said contracting to cover the doughnut holes would not solve the countywide problem.
County officials also have looked into a possible contract with West Richland, but haven't received a firm answer concerning the feasibility, he said. The option of a private contractor was considered, but discarded.
For now, Bowen said, the county is waiting to see what happens with Benton County's efforts to start its own animal control service and build an animal shelter. In August, Benton commissioners approved creation of an animal control subdivision in the Benton County Sheriff's Office.
Bowen said partnering with Benton County on animal control could be an answer, adding, "We are doing what we can."
