The Leawood City Council may soon end the city’s standard pet licensing program, in part because the money it brings in does not cover the costs to administer it.
Councilmembers, in a meeting held virtually Monday night due to Sunday’s blizzard, voted to move forward on staff’s recommendation to do away with issuing annual tags for cats and dogs.
That would mirror a step that other Johnson County cities Mission and Shawnee have already taken, City Administrator Stephen Powell said.
Ending the program would free the city of its administrative costs.
However, pet owners would still have to identify their pets with a vanity tag or microchip and would have to keep up to date on vaccinations.
A separate, special program requiring a permit for more than two dogs or cats, along with the city’s dangerous animal ordinance, would remain unaffected by the change.
City currently charges $5-25 per pet license
Leawood’s current licensing program charges $5 per spayed or neutered pet, and $25 for non-altered pets, with a $5-a-month late fee that begins to accrue March 1.
The standard cat and dog tag program brings in about $6,000 per year, and the special permit program about $5,000.
The cost of administering both programs, including printing renewal notices, tags and envelopes as well as staff time, is estimated at $13,470 per year.
City staff, police support dropping pet licensing
If the standard licensing program is dropped, then the licensing specialist in the city clerk’s office can focus on business licenses, which typically demand more time and bring in more revenue, Powell said.
Massage and alcohol permits, in particular, need a lot of review, he added.
The Leawood Police Department also favors getting rid of the program because animal control officers, operating on a complaint basis, can require written proof of vaccination from a vet when they investigate.
The staff recommendations noted that canine rabies in the United States is rare in the suburbs and has little to do with pet licensing.
‘Onerous thing’
There are about 1,600 licensed pets in Leawood, but no record of how many may be unlicensed.
Some councilmembers on Monday said the requirement to license annually — which is done on paper forms and the mail — is annoying and inefficient.
Councilmember Debra Filla called the annual chore “an irritation,” especially when rabies vaccinations are now good for three years.
“It’s one of those onerous things,” she said. “It’s not even the money you have to pay, it’s the time you have to go through to do it.”
Leawood doesn’t have wild dogs roaming about, she added.
What happens next?
Councilmembers also clarified that the city should still require identification of pets via a chip or tag as well as vaccination, and that signs at the city’s off-leash park make those requirements clear to visitors.
Other councilmembers wanted reassurance that the city’s current rules on potentially dangerous animals — including Johnson County’s last remaining ban on pit bulls — would be unaffected.
The city council voted 6-2 in favor of ending the current program, with councilmembers Julie Cain and Lisa Harrison in dissent.
Staff will draw up an ordinance for the city council to consider at its Jan. 16 meeting.
