TOLEDO, Ohio — Lucas County Canine Care and Control and the Toledo Police Department have had a decades-long partnership when it comes to complaints about dogs in the city.
But this year, some Toledo City Council members have been hesitant to renew it.
In a council meeting on Tuesday, city leaders met with LC4 and TPD to review the contract and clear up confusion. Council members mentioned the agreement costing the city a total of $75,000 each year with the idea of not exceeding that amount.
However, the past three years have all exceeded that limit, and so far this year, the city is paying more than $83,000.
"What's causing the increases? Do we have a count on how many calls in 2022, 2023, 2024? " council member Theresa Gadus asked during the meeting.
This question among many was asked by multiple council members, along with wanting to know who decided on the $75,000.
But during the meeting, LC4 interim Director Michael Hart said he didn't have answers to many of those questions.
"Calls are up in the city of Toledo," council member Theresa Morris said. "Some of the questions that I had seemed to be that, yes, they do get dogs that are running astray and they do have vicious dogs but sometimes they have a call that is a humane issue, a dog is malnourished, is chained and what have you, and so is that then a job that the humane society could help us with?"
Morris said she would like to see a more fine line between when should calls go to the humane society and when they should go to LC4 in hopes it decreases the number of calls currently believed to be driving the overall annual cost up for the city.
"Trying to figure out how we can maintain our contract with the LC4, but then also be mindful of taxpayer dollars," Morris said.
The city is planning to meet about the contract again on Wednesday.
In another meeting involving LC4, the 2025 budget proposal shows the shelter is looking to receive $3.74 million in the new year.
Hart said LC4 plans to finish its new $35 million facility by July. With this new building and the proposed budget, he said the department is seeking to adjust its staffing levels to meet capacity for care.
"A dramatic increase in the number of intakes that we're experiencing at the shelter versus the number of adoptions has really impacted our staffing levels, which is why we're necessarily making the changes to increase staffing levels because ... the population that we're serving," Hart said. "We do need to add additional staff to be where we need to be."
This is the last week the county is conducting budget hearings for the 2025 general fund budget. Commissioners are expected to pass it sometime in December.
County commissioners say they anticipate the 2025 budget will be close to the 2024 budget, around $190 million. The Lucas County Sheriff’s Office is the county's largest departmental budget, with a 2025 proposal of $40.5 million.