SPCA, County Agree on Extension of Animal Control Services

After a year notice, a few weeks of extension talks and a more than three hour meeting Thursday night (the night before the deadline), Delaware County Council and the Delaware County SPCA came to an agreement that they will in fact extend animal control services to the county’s municipalities.

A temporary five-day extension was agreed upon Thursday night due to the July 1 SPCA deadline coinciding with the Fourth of July holiday.

But an official six-month extension has been agreed upon between the county and SPCA. The agreement must also be reviewed by the Attorney General’s Office.

Earlier this month the SPCA denied the county’s request for an extension of its July 1 deadline to stop taking strays from the 49 municipalities and become a no-kill shelter.

Then days later, after the county offered to fund a possible extension, the two groups came together in an attempt to come to an agreement.

A six-month, county-funded, extension was agreed upon to give the county time to build a new animal control facility and still allow the SPCA to abide by the state charitable solicitation laws and regulations.

The SPCA had assured donors that after July 1 their money would not be used for animal control services. But because the county will fund animal control services for the next six month, the SPCA will not violate its agreement with donors.

The SPCA will still bill a municipality the $116 it costs to in-take a stray animal but the county will contribute an additional $125, for a total of $241 per animal.

County Council and SPCA representatives will officially announce their agreement at a press conference this morning.