So since the city budget meetings there has been a lot of talk about the cost of animal control in Gonzales. Bottom line is that we as tax payers have paid $128,415 YTD. Those figures are directly from the package provided to the media and council members for the last council meeting.
As I have looked around at other cities budgets, I have yet to come across one that has averaged more than $10 per person in the city regardless of the size of the city. And actually the larger cities like San Antonio bring that cost down to $1-$3 per person. I understand economy of scale, but ours is running nearly double that at $18.35+ per person.
I also understand that the volunteers at FOGAS put in their own time, sweat and money to keep these facilities running, as do every other volunteer of every other organization in our great town.
Mine is with Scouting. I hear Mr. Burchard and Mr. Dement talk about purchasing and taking care of items for beautification projects in town. All those that serve on boards in our town do so for $0. If I had to venture to guess I would bet those at the Gonzales Youth Center have done the same thing. It's what we do when we feel passionate about a cause.
The difference is that our budget is not a substantial part of the budget of our city. In some cases it's $0. In some cases there are public funding for the projects. And honestly I would prefer to see the city hire a grant writer to help some of these organizations then to keep paying their way. Not that the causes aren't good valid causes, but public funding comes at a price to everyone, including those taking the money.
It's my understanding that we have the 'Gold Standard' of animal control. It's a no kill facility. The cats and dogs are placed at every opportunity, and if I've read correctly many many have been. I know my son has adopted 3 cats (no not for my house) from FOGAS.
The problem I have is this, WE CAN'T AFFORD THE GOLD STANDARD! This year we are already running at a $420,000 deficit. That is before any unforeseen issues, and the year just started 8 days ago. I personally want a 6 bedroom house with 20 acres, a Jaguar, a Rolls Royce and a nice big pickup truck for pulling my waited fishing boat and trailer that I don't have. All those things are great, and if I had the money I would be able to have.
If we as a town had the money, then having the great level of animal control we have would be a great thing. We don't have the money, and being able to bring our cost down to less than $10/head is where we need to be at. That's cutting the current Animal Control spending to less than $70,000. In my books that's almost a $60,000 savings over where we currently are.
I know this issue is a sore spot for many. It's ok, and we will have to agree to disagree, but when we are loosing policemen because of less than $3,000 a year, and we have departments of employees sitting on their hands because they don't have gas money, and we have pot holes that need to be fixed, and we have raw sewage running above ground, and we have....you get the picture, then every $100 counts, and $60,000 counts a lot!
There are still other areas that need approaching too. I will be doing Feb and Mar numbers on JB Wells next week with any luck. They still aren't off my radar. There are other areas I'm looking at too. But for now, since it's such a big financial target FOGAS and the entire Gonzales Animal Control is todays topic. Our entire city council needs to reevaluate the value that this method of animal control is bringing to our great city.
God Bless,
Dennis Nesser
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