Nikole Babb
nbabb@cherryroad.com

The City of Leon City Council voted on January 6 to eliminate permit fees for dogs and cats in an effort to alleviate costs for residents and encourage them to spay/neuter their animals to reduce population.

Previously Leon required dog and cat owners to permit each animal at $5 per animal if they were spay/neutered and $15 per animal if they weren’t spay/neutered. Residents often spoke to the council on rising cost of living expenses and felt they were being nickel and dimed after the water rates were raised to support new infrastructure.

Jodie Laidler, City/Court Clerk for the City of Leon said the council listened. She thought of the proposal to eliminate dog and cat fees as well as lower other animal fees as a response to concerned citizens. She said the Council was in full support of the proposal.

“The fees are to process the paperwork,” said Laidler. “It doesn’t take long to process the paperwork, so I took the proposal to the council and they were supportive.”

Now all that’s required for residents to permit their dogs and cats is to provide proof of rabies vaccine in addition to sending in personal information via email like picture of certificate, owner name, address, phone number and pet name.

Kennel fees were also changed. Previously 3-7 animals of one kind required a $20 kennel fee and more than eight required a $50 kennel fee. Now there is just one kennel fee that requires $50 for six or more animals. Horse permit fees were lowered in addition to the elimination of cat and dog permit fees. The permit fee was taken down to $50 from $100.

Chickens remain at $10 for 12, no rooster allowed. No more livestock animals will be allowed within city limits effective immediately, except for those already present and permitted.

“We want them to know that we’re listening,” said Laidler. “This was something we could take immediate action on.”

Court citation fees were the only fees raised. If an animal is found with no proof of a rabies vaccine, a court citation fee of $100 will be issued, raised from $50.

“We’re hoping the lowered permit fees required will encourage residents to spay/neuter the cats in town,” said Laidler. “We can’t add an ordinance for cats further because we can’t staff trappers, nor do we want to keep cats at the pound. But we hope residents saving money from permits can go towards spay/neutering them and then will reduce the overall population.”