SYRACUSE -- The Syracuse Common Council announced on Monday that it will help pay for the SPCA's animal abuse investigation expenses.
Councilor Bob Dougherty said that in 2012, the city will give just over $10,000 to the SPCA's investigations.
These funds will come from the city dog licensing fees. Previously, the county helped fund the SPCA through licensing fees. Syracuse chose to fund the SPCA when licensing fees switched from the county to the local municipalities.
"It's for helping the animals that are in abusive situations," says Syracuse City Clerk John Copanas. "When they're found, and they've been neglected or they've been abused, they're treated by the SPCA to get back to health and adopted out, hopefully."
The CNY SPCA put out an appeal to local municipalities asking them to give about 9 cents for each person who lives in that community for the service of animal cruelty investigations. Executive Director Paul Morgan says they have until the end of January to get back to the SPCA. So far, about 50% of local communities have decided to approve the contracts.
Morgan says, if the communities don't approve the contracts, they don't get the service.
"Let's say there's a hoarder, and you have all these cats and so forth, and the municipality wants us to come in and they didn't sign with us," says Morgan. "They would have to pay separate fees."
Morgan says the separate fees would likely be higher than signing the contract in the first place.
