Elk Grove to raise fees for licensing pets. Here’s by how much
Elk Grove pet owners will soon see an increase in animal licensing fees.
The Elk Grove City Council approved the increase at a meeting Wednesday, after its staff report found the fees were last updated in 2013 and were “below average for the region.” The change was approved 4-0, with Mayor Bobbie Singh-Allen absent.
Owners of dogs and cats are required to obtain an animal license for their pet and provide proof of a valid rabies vaccination.
Currently, Elk Grove charges $15 annually per cat or dog that is spayed or neutered, and $50 annually for each cat or dog that is not. Residents have the option of choosing a three-year license, amounting to a discounted total of $35 per spayed or neutered pet or a non-discounted total of $150 for non-spayed or neutered pets.
Residents above 65-years old get to own two spayed or neutered pets for free and pay $25 annually for each pet that is not.
The changes in fees, effective July 1, would increase to $20 annually for spayed and neutered pets and $60 annually for non-spayed or neutered pets. It also adds a two-year license option, costing $40 for spayed and neutered pets and $120 for non-spayed and neutered pets. The three-year license option costs $50 for spayed and neutered pets and $165 for non-spayed and neutered pets.
The fee is lower for spayed and neutered pets to encourage compliance, the city’s animal services manager Sarah Humlie said at the meeting.
Service animals are free to license. If a pet is not microchipped, the city charges a fee of $50.
The change would generate about an additional $30,000 to $40,000 a year, which would go to the city’s general fund for animal services, the staff report reads.
The two-year option allows residents to better align licensing with their pet’s rabies vaccination schedule, the report reads.
“Vaccinating the domestic animal population that co-habitates with humans against rabies protects the community from spillover of the rabies virus from wildlife reservoirs of the disease,” the resolution reads.
