As Montezuma County, with its ever-shrinking budget, considers whether to continue supporting the Cortez Animal Shelter, we hope the commissioners can find a way.
They have already heard that many of the animals at the shelter were captured outside the city limits. That reality is demonstrated on social media, where many posts can be seen seeking the owner of a dog found near the intersection of two rural roads. “If not claimed by tomorrow,” they say, “the dog will be taken to the shelter.”
Pets get loose, sometimes despite careful precautions, and they are no respecters of political boundaries. Some chase livestock and wildlife. Some bite people. A mechanism is needed to hold those animals until they are returned to their owners (who, in turn, must face the consequences of their pets’ misbehavior).
The alternatives to a shared animal shelter — separate facilities, or no ability to house runaway county pets — are neither feasible nor palatable.
That does not make the financial question any easier to resolve, and that picture is complicated. Every time a question about a shared fiscal responsibility arises, city residents are quick to point out that they pay county property tax, and those who do not live in town are just to point out that they pay sales tax every time they shop in Cortez. So, county dwellers might say, they have already paid more of their pets’ share of the cost of keeping the animal shelter open.
That is true, but then there are the costs for maintaining the city streets they drive on, police protection in town, library services, access to parks and so on — all the amenities funded by the city with no restrictions on who can use them.
Maybe the city and county can figure out who comes out ahead when the county kicks in 22 percent of the cost of running the shelter, but the rest of us probably cannot. What matters most is that the existence of an animal shelter that accepts small animals from both Cortez and the surrounding areas is a benefit to all. It is a boon to residents’ quality of life.
Montezuma County has to cut not just pennies but a large number of dollars. We hope the commissioners can find a way to continue to contribute to the animal shelter, because it does benefit their constituents. Maybe a way exists to mitigate the cost by, for example, a small pet-license fee for out-of-town dogs. Whatever the options, let us think long and hard before we let the animal shelter falter for lack of funds.
