Cecil County Animal Services Overspends Budget, Asks $140K from Reserve Funds; Choice Between Cat Kibble or Ambulance?

A CECIL TIMES Special Report NEWS ANALYSIS Cecil County’s Animal Services agency is overspending its current Fiscal 2019 budget and is asking for an infusion of $140,000 immediately, drawn from a county fiscal reserve fund that is supposed to be off-limits for current spending. In addition, the agency is seeking a 41.7 percent operating budget boost in the proposed fiscal 2020 budget and adding 2.5 full-time-equivalent workers to its payroll—the highest number of any unit of county government. The full cost of the county’s animal services program is not even reflected in its own budget, with operations and maintenance costs of its Chesapeake City facility buried in an overall county property management account and its vehicle replacement costs shifted into the countywide vehicle “fleet” account. In the new Fiscal 2020 budget, Animal Services is seeking a 41.7 percent increase in its operating budget, bringing those costs to $1,097,415. In addition, maintenance of the shelter is budgeted separately at $64,565, a 21.2 percent increase over the current budget year. The total request amounts to $1,161,980. But even before the County Council reviews the new budget, Councilors are now being asked to make a significant transfer of funds in the current fiscal […]