By David Fenker
david@nmpaper.com
WABASH COUNTY, Ind. – Looking to maintain and expand its current facility, the Wabash County Animal Shelter recently requested an increase in its funding from the county commissioners.
Representatives from the shelter attended the commissioners’ Monday, June 18, meeting to present a budget allocation request. Representatives from the Purdue Extension Office also presented a request.
Shelter Manager Doug Bogart asked that the commissioners increase the shelter’s funding from $65,000 to $70,000-75,000 for the upcoming fiscal year, citing needs such as a new roof and a quarantine space for canines.
“Bottom line is, we lost a significant amount of money the past several years,” Bogert said, later adding: “I guess I’m here to say, we desperately need every dollar we can get.
“We do everything we can to save money. All the vaccines and stuff, I buy direct from the manufacturer and get special pricing on them – I buy them cheaper than the vets can buy them. It’s that way with everything we purchase there.”
This past year, he said, was the first in several that the shelter finished in the black, in part due to delaying an insurance bill payment until the first of the year.
Additionally, the shelter received a $10,000 matching donation from a private citizen last year.
“That’s what gave us enough income to not be in the red for the first time,” Bogert said.
Board chairman Brian Haupert asked if the shelter’s board has plans to update or expand the facility, to which Bogert replied affirmatively.
“Right now, we do not have a quarantine facility for the dogs,” he said, describing an recent incident when a stray introduced a disease to population. “What we have for the cats but we don’t have for the dogs, is a separate wing where anything that comes in would go into that wing, and that would be under its own heating and air conditioning system, under its own everything.”
The addition the shelter would like to build adds 14 canine cages, and would include its own utility systems to isolate it from the rest of the population.
Additionally, the shelter’s roof may need repairs soon.
“The shelter still has its original roof on, which is about 25 years old now,” Bogert said. “We pray every time it rains that we don’t get wet. So, we’ve got to start putting some money away for a roof that we know we’re going to be needing pretty soon.”
A second budget allocation request came from County Extension Director Angela Christopher, of the Purdue Extension Office.
Christopher noted that the commissioners grant $5,000 to the extension each year, and that those funds pay for non-livestock judges during the annual 4-H fair, as well as a variety of camps through 4-H. She did not ask for an increase.
“The 80ish projects that we have that don’t involve livestock, it pays for all of the judges for that,” she said. “That comes out to a little over $2,000.
“… The rest of it is going to send our 4-H members to trainings on leadership and knowledge skills, to go to 4-H Camp and 4-H Roundup, to 4-H Academy at Purdue.”
Christopher also explained the 4-H program’s $30 membership fee, noting that $15 of that fee goes to the state 4-H program, in part to pay for insurance covering 4-H participants. The rest of the state’s funds go to a variety of sources.
“The $15 of the earnings in the county goes to things like the program materials that the youth use,” Christopher said. “… We no longer charge club dues, we don’t charge an extra fee of $75 a kid for shooting sports like some counties do. All of our fees are covered in that $15.”
Karson Pratt, a 4-H member, shared a little about how the county’s funds have helped his 4-H experience.
“What this money will do is, it pays to go to the camps,” he said. “4-H has helped me with responsibility, and it has also helped me start my own little business.”
Pratt breeds, shows and sells chickens.
Additional news from the meeting included: