CARROT RIVER — Carrot River council has changed the price and occurrence of mandatory dog and cat license fees from $10 annually to $25 for the pet’s lifetime.
When a cat or dog is found by a town, the owner is established through a tag on the animal the owners received by purchasing the license, if the animal is unlicensed the owner is charged a $60 fee.
Brennan Hall, Carrot River’s administrator, said the town has been having problems with both unlicensed animals being found and inconsistent annual licensing fees, indicating residents aren’t renewing their license annually.
“It’s been an administrative headache for quite some time just keeping records of that and trying to get people to come in every year,” Hall said. “The vast majority of people weren’t following that anyway. So we thought if we do it once a lifetime and changed the price a bit more people would be prompted to actually tag their pets.”
Although the records are incomplete, Hall estimated that about half of pet owners in town haven’t purchased their required licenses.
“It’s not really about the money, it’s just prompting people to come in and do it so we don’t have situations where we’re trying to figure out who we got when we pick them up and just make it a lot easier for everyone.”
There are 52 cats and dogs the town is officially aware of.
Hall said residents will not be penalized for not previously obtaining a license when purchasing their lifetime one.
The change was carried by Carrot River council on Nov. 23.
