Kennel fee hike weighed

MAT-SU -- For $25, people who own more than five dogs or cats in the Mat-Su Borough can register as a kennel or cattery for three years.

The process entails an inspection by Mat-Su Borough Animal Care and Regulation officers, and a check that the animals have current rabies vaccinations, With borough staff facing tighter budgets, however, some are asking whether $25 for a three-year license, plus $1 for each dog after the first five, is enough.

The Mat-Su Borough Animal Care and Regulation board is evaluating licensing fees and is seeking input from mushers, kennel owners and retail vendors to help them evaluate the borough's kennel licensing fees. Board president Joan Westall said the board has reviewed fees associated with several tasks performed regularly by ACR staff, and in many cases has recommended small increases. The kennel licensing fees, she said, haven't been adjusted in several years.

"Anchorage has quite a higher fee schedule," Westall said. "Animal Care and Regulation is losing money -- it costs far more for them to go out and do a kennel inspection [than what is being charged]."

About 100 kennels are currently registered within the borough. That's far less than the number of people who own five or more dogs.

That, Westall said, is part of the difficulty in setting higher prices, but keeping them within the range of what kennel owners will pay.

"We're just trying to find a balance somewhere, where we can raise fees a little bit, and keep it within what the public can stand," Westall said.

The opinion of what the public will stand varies.

Anchorage commercial kennel owners pay $100 for a one-year kennel license, and pet-owners who simply own four to 10 animals pay that amount every two years.

Owners of multiple pets who have more than 11 pets pay $150 for a two-year license. Several suggestions have been raised for discussion, one of which would have asked kennel owners to pay $200 per year for up to 60 dogs. That price would have included free rabies vaccinations. Kennel owners with more than 60 dogs would have been asked to pay an additional $100.

That price would mean a kennel operator could have a 60-dog lot vaccinated for rabies for $3.33 per dog, but Westall said the board decided against the plan.

"We pretty much determined that wasn't a good idea," Westall said. "ACR currently gets free rabies shots, but that could change at any time."

For now, Westall said she's not so sure the kennel fees should be changed.

"I don't think $25 is unreasonable," Westall said. "If you have a lot of dogs, there's where the cut can come in."

Westall said the ACR board is hoping to hear from professional kennel operators as well as mushers and breeders. The board, she said, has invited those groups to speak at its next board meeting, scheduled for Monday, Dec. 13, at 7 p.m.

"We're just trying to gather information," Westall said.

Contact Rindi White at rindi.white@frontiersman.com.