New cat license, fee repealed in Carpentersville

Backlash from cat owners compelled the Carpentersville village board this week to reverse its stance on licensing requirements for felines.

Board members voted unanimously Tuesday to repeal the licensing requirements, including a $3 fee.

Trustee Pat Schultz said residents voiced opposition to the charge.

“Sometimes you just can't touch a thing that's not really broken,” Schultz said.

Last month, the board revised the village's animal ordinances, including the definition of a dangerous animal, restrictions on certain animals at food service locations and creation of an official collaboration for a Trap, Neuter, Return program for stray cats.

Feral cats are trapped, neutered and released again. The thinking is that with less chance for reproduction the cat population won't grow and instead the strays population eventually will die off.

When the village trustees proposed the licensing fee for cats, they suggested using the money to help fund the trap, neuter, release program, run by Cinderella's Hope of West Dundee.

Without those funds, Cinderella's Hope will continue to run with donations it collects and grants it receives as a nonprofit organization. Taxpayer or village money will not support the program. There was a unanimous vote to repeal the licensing fee portion of the animal ordinance.

Trustee Kay Teeter said she supported the repeal because licensing cats is too much of a challenge for village staff to monitor and another imposition on residents.

“It's more work for our staff when we're already understaffed to be out tracking more licensing,” Teeter said. “And here we were putting more legislation on the residents.”