Report: KC Considers Public Vote & Private Funding for Animal Shelter

(AP) – A preliminary plan to replace Kansas City’s old, outdated animal shelter could include a public vote and private funding, according to city officials.
City Manager Troy Schulte told The Kansas City Star (http://bit.ly/1NeKt7n ) that other details, including the timing of a bond issue, have yet to be worked out. He said the city could fund the project using public and private money.
City Councilwoman Teresa Loar said the existing shelter, which has been around for 43 years, is “woefully inadequate,” when compared to much larger, newer facilities such as the 28,000-square-foot shelter in nearby Independence that serves half the number of animals that Kansas City does.
“We should be ashamed and embarrassed as a city to call this an animal shelter,” Loar said. She believes citizens would support a modest property tax increase to pay for this and other infrastructure improvements. The cost of a new shelter is unclear, but shelters built elsewhere recently have ranged from $12 million to $15 million.
Kansas City’s animal shelter houses about 400 animals. In 2011, the shelter took in 6,000 animals and euthanized about 30 percent. The shelter now takes in more than 10,000 animals per year and euthanizes about 7 percent.