Otsego County Animal Shelter millage on May 2 ballot

GAYLORD — Melissa FitzGerald has been the director of the animal shelter and animal control officer for Otsego County for 13 years, and it's the cats and dogs that keep her coming back.

"The people I work with and the people I deal with on a daily basis also bring me back. I just love this job. It gives me the law enforcement aspect of it, which is what my degree is in (she is a former police officer), and it gives me the animal side of it. I have always loved animals," said FitzGerald.

She has helped develop the county's animal shelter into one of the best in Northern Michigan. The shelter began in 1974 and FitzGerald said the original building on Seventh Street was 1,800 square feet.

In 1999, the county board voted to implement a no-kill policy when it came to animals in the shelter.

"Once that became official, the county then moved to request a millage," FitzGerald said.

The original millage was .30 of a mill, which works out to 30 cents per $1,000 of taxable property value. So a home with a taxable value of $100,000 pays about $30 a year in property taxes to operate the shelter and provide the other services.

"The millage has always been .30 of a mill and it remains at that level," FitzGerald said, since it was first approved in 2004. Voters in the county are being asked to renew the millage at the same rate for five years on the May 2 ballot.

The current annual budget for the shelter is about $400,000 and there are five full-time employees, including FitzGerald. She also employs a veterinary technician on a part-time basis.

"In addition to animal control matters, the staff handles all maintenance at the building including snow plowing by me," she said.

The shelter also receives revenue from dog licenses and adoptions. Licenses cost $10 annually if purchased by March 1, then it go to $15 after that date if the animal is spayed or neutered. If the dog is not spayed or neutered, the cost of a license is $20 before March 1 and $25 after.

The adoption fees are $45 for a cat and $65 for a dog for county residents. The animals are spayed and neutered and the dogs have a microchip. All adopted animals are up to date on vaccinations, said FitzGerald.

FitzGerald said most folks who adopt an animal already know what they are looking for when they come into the shelter.

"They already have a good idea of the type of dog or cat they want," she said, including gender and size. "A lot of people walk through and one will catch their eye or heart and that's the one they want and there is a two-week trial with all of our adoptions."

People tend to select a dog, while it is the opposite with felines.

"Cats tend to pick the person," FitzGerald said.

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In addition to dogs and cats, the shelter has taken in a few birds and pigs over the years. Sometimes there are exceptions to the no-kill policy. If an animal has a terminal illness, mortal injury or is too aggressive, it has to be put down.

"We humanely euthanize them and we don't do it at the shelter," FitzGerald said.

Last year, 98 percent of the animals brought in to the shelter ended up being adopted.

— Contact Paul Welitzkin at [email protected].

This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Otsego County Animal Shelter millage on May 2 ballot