The City Council unanimously approved new fees for dog licenses on Monday, Jan. 22.
The vote came after a public hearing. No members of the public spoke at the public hearing.
Most dog license fees increased. For one example, an unaltered dog fee increased from $108 to $136.
It’s currently unknown how many dogs there are in Seal Beach. Long Beach reported that in calendar year 2022 they sold 1,455 dog licenses, according to SBPD Support Services Capt. Nick Nicholas. (Long Beach used to provide animal control services. Seal Beach Police launched the in-house animal control program on July 1, 2023.)
During fiscal year 21-22, the city of Seal Beach received $67,074 in animal license fees and with an average of a 25% increase we can forecast revenues of $83,843 for the first full fiscal year if these updates are implemented,”Nicholas said during his presentation to the council.
“I’d guess that there’s more than 1,400 dogs in Seal Beach assuming that we have 25,000 residents but we don’t have a true accurate accounting of how many dogs are unlicensed,” Nicholas said.
“However, with these updated fees and the proposed municipal code changes that staff is recommending, we hope to gain greater compliance along with our messaging efforts now that Seal Beach has animal control back in house,” Nicholas said.
District Four Council Member/Mayor Sustarsic agreed that there were probably more than 1,400 dogs. She asked for confirmation that people can register their dogs on a website.
“Right now, we don’t have a mechanism to register the dogs,” said Nicholas. He said part of that is making sure that Seal Beach fees and codes align with industry best practices.
“However in the meantime what we are doing is we have a portal that’s on our City website Seal Beach pd.com and if you click on the animal information there’s a portal where people can input their their name, address, their dog’s name, dog’s birthday type of dog and we collect that information in a form so once we are ready to go live with our pet licensing then we can message that and direct them to the pet data website so that they can complete their license,” Nicholas said.
Sustarsic wanted confirmation that that the city would not collect late fees during the transition.
Nicholas said that was correct. “Absolutely not,” he said.
Background
Service dog licenses are still free, according to the staff report by SBPD Support Services Capt. Nick Nicholas. Late fees are now half the cost of a license. Transfer fees and replacement tags will now be $10. There was no fee for a citation for not complying with dog regulations. The new penalty is $112.
During the meeting, Nicholas said there would be no fee for surrendering a dog. He said this was by design as the goal is to encourage people to surrender a dog to animal control rather than abandon the dog at the roadside. “We actually did get a call from, I think it was either today or earlier this week, from a person who is experiencing homelessness saying that they were no longer able to care for their their pet dog,” Nicholas said.
“They wanted to surrender their pet in a safe environment so they did call us and we were able to meet with that person and then take that dog and then we took the dog over to WAGS,” Nicholas said. WAGS stands for Westminster Adoption Group and Services.
According to Nicholas’s written report, adopting the fees would relieve strain on the General Fund.
“By increasing these fees, we can invest in advanced training and equipment, thus ensuring the safety of our residents and the welfare of the animals we serve,” Nicholas wrote.
“These fees represent an equitable way to distribute the program’s costs among those who utilize its resources, alleviating the financial burden on the General Fund and promoting fiscal responsibility,” Nicholas wrote.
“Staff has evaluated the cost of providing dog licensing services and has determined that the proposed fees set forth below do not exceed the City’s cost of providing the service.,” Nicholas wrote.
“The anticipated estimated fiscal impact of the proposed fee adjustments is an increase of $16,769, which does not exceed the City’s cost of providing dog licensing services,” Nicholas wrote.
