PORT TOWNSEND — The Jefferson County Animal Shelter can accommodate 20 dogs and nearly as many cats, but every once in a while, it is called upon to care for other types of pets.
This week, a resident of Hastings Avenue found a pot-bellied pig wandering around his yard, and brought the little fellow into the shelter at 112 Critter Lane in Port Townsend into the care of volunteers and two paid employees.
County officials have said that the shelter, which has been part of the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office since 2005, will lose one of its paid workers if voters do not approve a .3 percent sales tax increase Tuesday.
Proposition 1, which is on the general election ballot, would raise the county sales tax rate from the present 8.4 percent to 8.7 percent, or 3 cents for every $10 purchase, with the increase taking effect April 1.
Forty percent of the tax increase revenue would go to the city of Port Townsend, which has agreed to use half of its share to support the Port Townsend Community Center and Memorial Field for up to four years.
The remainder of the revenue would go toward helping to fill the county’s projected shortfall of $1.1 million.
County officials have outlined services that will be cut if voters don’t pass the measure.
“The county has given us two responsibilities, animal control and running the shelter,” said Alex Mintz, deputy sheriff for animal control.
“We cannot do both without additional funding.”
In animal-loving Jefferson County, the shelter has more help than the county allocation.
The work of the two full-time officers is supplemented by a pool of 100 volunteers, who do everything from changing the litter to exercising the animals.
The volunteers have organized benefit events and other activities, such a fundraising calendar picturing twelve local shelter success stories.
There are some things, Mintz said, that a volunteer cannot do.
Manning the front desk can be a special skill, since “you have to deal with a lot of irate people,” he said.
Aside from volunteer labor, the community supports the shelter in other ways.
People donate food their pets do not like, resulting in a situation “where we have never had to buy dog or cat food,” Mintz said.
The shelter even takes excess food to the food bank every month, he said.
The shelter also gets income from licensing, which is required of all dogs. A license costs $20 for a spayed or neutered dog and $48 for unaltered pets.
Mintz said that about 3,000 dogs have been licensed in the county.
The biggest advantage to licensing, aside from support of the shelter, is the ability to quickly reunite people with a lost pet.
Information on file from licensing also provides a network for notification about disease.
The county has budgeted $223,132 for animal services in 2010, but the department is coming in under budget.
It had spent $169,947 through September, and has monthly operating costs of about $6,000.
Mintz said the county hasn’t always come through for the shelter but community support has kept it alive.
He recalls a petition of support in 2007 that gathered 2,300 signatures in five days, “which was amazing because most petitions around here are lucky to get 500 or 600 signatures.”
He is always looking for new revenue sources “so we can keep the doors open and the lights on.”
Shelter volunteers are now selling a color calendar featuring people who adopted pets from the shelter for $20.
It is available at five local locations: Quimper Sound, and Uptown Physical Therapy in Port Townsend, Dana Pointe Interiors in Port Ludlow, Hadlock Veterinary Clinic in Port Hadlock, and the shelter itself.
The Humane Society of Jefferson County, www.jeffersoncountyhumanesociety.org/, supports the county shelter.
The animal shelter is open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday. It can be reached at 360-385-3292.
Animal control officers are on-call 24 hours daily. Those with an emergency when the shelter is not open are asked to phone 9-1-1.
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Jefferson County Reporter Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or charlie.bermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
