Kane Co.: Animal control charges too much for too little

Kane County's Animal Control Task Force concluded its work Tuesday night with a general agreement that the county has long provided inferior service for the dollar amount it has charged taxpayers.

Task Force members heard lengthy testimony from Lisa Lembke, a veterinarian who runs McHenry County's animal control department, and learned she provides both veterinarian and administrative oversight of the department for less money than Kane County has paid for an administrator and a part-time veterinarian in the past. Moreover, McHenry County handles five times as many animals as Kane County does for only a slightly higher cost.

The numbers show Lembke runs her department of 18 staff members, working with 2,500 animals a year, for about $720,000 a year. In contrast, Kane County recently paid an administrator $92,000 a year, plus a part-time veterinarian $24,000 a year, to handle only 400 animals during the year. Kane County's Animal Control budget is currently $692,000. However, the department seeks a budget of $932,000 in the 2012 plan it presented last week.

Lembke told the task force Kane County is providing a low-quality of service to the animals that enter its facility.

“A veterinarian providing one to five hours attention a week to the animals doesn't get you adequate preventable care,” Lembke said. “It's a poor substitute for a vet who is dedicated to your particular concerns.”

Right now, Kane County doesn't provide the full gamut of veterinary care to shelter animals. That's because the shelter doesn't have a surgical suite for a veterinarian to operate in. Instead, in addition to the money paid to a part-time veterinarian, the county contracts with private providers to perform many of the intensive medical procedures including some of the spaying and neutering.

Task force discussion and interviews with officials back in May revealed those private contracts have also been an unnecessary expense.

Dr. Jack Schaefer of the VCA Aurora Animal Hospital told the Daily Herald his facility has offered free veterinary services to the county for years but has always been rejected. Paul Kuehert, executive director of the county's Public Health Department, said the county was in discussions with the VCA Aurora Animal Hospital to accept Schaefer's offer back in May, but that contract never materialized.

If the county hires a full-time veterinarian, it may have to consider creating a surgical suite in the animal shelter. County staff estimates place that cost at $425,000. However, Lembke told the task force she believes it could be done for as little as $20,000 if it can find any space within the existing Kane County facility.

“I don't know what kind of Cadillac that's driving,” said Lembke of the county's cost estimate.

Kane County Board Chairman Karen McConnaughay said her reading of the task force is to head in a direction of enhanced animal control service even if that means the changes won't shrink animal control's budget.

“We can be a lot more aggressive with animal control,” McConnaughay said. “But our residents do not want to pay for a higher level of service than they are currently getting.”

Task Force Member Maggie Auger said she doesn't think that higher level of service necessarily means more money.

“We already had an administrator that we were paying at a level that we could get an administrator/veterinarian for,” Auger said.