A possible pet licensing ordinance was brought to the table during a Manhattan City Commission meeting on Tuesday night.
According to Assistant City Manager Kiel Mangus, a study done by a K-State Graduate student estimated a 9% compliance rate for licensing pets in Manhattan. Mangus said they sold approximately 2,300 licenses in 2017 making about $20,000 in revenue, similar to the average over the past five years.
Mangus presented a draft ordinance to commissioners, proposing the idea of having local veterinarians issue licenses on behalf of the City in an attempt to raise compliance.
“So if the vet did want to collect the fee there, they could,” Mangus said. “But it wasn’t required.”
If a veterinarian chose to license at his or her clinic, Mangus said that vet would keep a certain dollar amount of the licensing fee.
There was also conversation about raising the licensing fee, especially for pets who are not spayed or neutered. Mangus said that the veterinarian community felt strongly about raising those fees compared to the fees for those who register already spayed or neutered pets.
“From their eyes in the vet community, unspayed/unneutered pets were causing a larger problem in the community, so they should have to pay more for that process,” Mangus said.
However, Commissioner Usha Reddi suggested lowering the licensing fee would be better to promote compliance.
