Syracuse (WSYR-TV) - Starting in January the state will no longer be involved in licensing dogs. Instead, the task will be up to each municipality. There remain many unanswered questions about how the new system will function.
Agriculture Commissioner Patrick Hooker says the change will save New York $325,000, while giving local governments the opportunity to nearly double their revenue through licensing fees. Towns and villages will no longer have to share the money with county and state.
Once the new law goes into effect on January 1, 2011 it will be up to each municipality to set its own fees, and tailor dog programs to meet the needs of the community. Revenue for this program will be collected at the local level.
Animal shelters like the Finger Lakes SPCA are still waiting to hear how the new law will impact their operations. If it means the state is getting rid of the central database that they access via a website, the Finger Lakes SPCA will no longer be able to issue licenses on its premise.
SCPA Executive Director Carol Russell says the potential loss of that database is worrisome. "It really affects our ability to do adoptions, because when an adoption occurs we've been able to license that dog and send the dog and the owner on its way. We're not going to have that ability to do that any longer," she said.
Losing that ability will also affect owners trying to pick up an unlicensed dog because they'll will have to wait until they can register the following day with their town clerk's office.
It's a problem municipalities are going to have to solve. "That means a little more work, and we have to purchase tags now and we have to send out renewal notices to the dog owners who licenses expire that month," said Lysander Town Clerk Lisa Dell.
For Lysander, that'll be about 100 renewal notices a month and 2,200 new tags for every registered dog. Owners will get the new tags when they renew their dog's license. "We all rightfully have the fear of the unknown as town clerks and we just have to wait and see how it is and hopefully it's going to be a lot easier than we all think," said Dell.
Town clerks across the state are trying to see if they can put together a similar central database to replace the state's but the unanswered question is who would be financially responsible for maintaining the database.
If towns can't afford extra work with the current licensing fees, they can raise rates to cover the cost.
Russell worries about the timeframe. "I just don't know if there is enough time to figure this all out," she said.
The state will also look for another entity to carry out the "animal population and control program," which provides low cost spay or neuter surgery for cats and dogs.
