BONNER COUNTY, Idaho — The future of stray animal care in Bonner County is up in the air.
For more than a decade, Better Together Animal Alliance — a nonprofit shelter based in Ponderay — has held contracts with local municipalities to house stray dogs. After the shelter announced it would raise its rates substantially this year, elected officials began exploring other options.
In the 2023 budget cycle, Sandpoint, Ponderay, and Bonner County paid BTAA a total of $18,400 to take in 406 stray dogs. According to the shelter, the actual cost of caring for the animals was $274,054.
Mandy Evans, BTAA executive director, said this discrepancy wasn’t unordinary. She reported that BTAA has used funds from private donors and adoption revenue to help cover the cost of the contracted service for years.
Now, animal care costs are rising. BTAA has seen its utility bills surge and its insurance price double over the past two years; the organization can no longer subsidize the contracted work. As a result, BTAA proposed new contract rates to all three partners in March that it said accurately account for the true cost of the service.
What are the contracted duties?
Idaho Code requires counties to impound stray dogs and hold them for a five-day period, not including weekends or holidays. Counties are also required to try to reconnect the pet and the owner. If this is unsuccessful, a stray dog becomes the property of the county.
The code also states that if cities within the county have dog licensing systems, they are required to impound strays under the same standards.
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