Today I met with Rita Schwartz and Michael Rosenberg, two of the founders of the Pet Trust, the originators of the proposed county charter amendment ballot number 240, Improved Animal Services. They objected to my recommendation to vote against 240. I was looking at the idea that if we were going to increase our real estate taxes the money should go to feeding the hungry children of our community, not our cat and dogs.
However feeding cats and dogs is not the concept behind 240. 240 will perform two objectives. (1) Reduce the number of unwanted cats and dogs in our county and (2) greatly reduce the cost of putting our unwanted pets to sleep. Simply stated there will be less unwanted animals. The trust will fund the neutering of stray cats and dogs as well as unwanted household pets. Neutered, they will reverse the current growth in numbers of unwanted animals. With the numbers down, as proven in a similar project in Jacksonville, we will greatly reduce the county’s cost of putting to sleep the hundreds of unwanted animals.
240 will reduce the number of unwanted cats and dogs and overall reduce the cost to the taxpayer. I recommend you vote “Yes” on Amendment 240.
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