Justices of the peace said they were underwhelmed by the reach of the spay-and-neuter voucher program the county began in April.
Garland County Sheriff Mike McCormick told the Garland County Quorum Court Finance Committee earlier this week 62 of the $50 vouchers have been issued. Of those, 24 have been redeemed at participating veterinary clinics. McCormick said follow-up calls the sheriff's department placed to 10 voucher recipients revealed that six of them had yet to redeem their coupons.
The vouchers are available at the sheriff's department, 525 Ouachita Ave. Applications can be found on the county website, http://www.garlandcounty.org. Eight clinics are participating, according to the website.
Applicants are required to show proof of county residency and can use one voucher every six months. According to a county news release, pets that are fixed live healthier, longer lives and have fewer behavioral problems.
Hoping to raise awareness, several JPs on the committee said they planned to post information about the program on their social media accounts, and the county said it would post an alert on its website.
The county appropriated $25,000 for vouchers from the proceeds of the $10 voluntary tax listed on real and personal property tax bills. Enabled by the passage of a November 2016 ordinance, the tax raised $156,918 during the 2016 tax year, the tax collector's office said.
The county planned to use the proceeds to defray the cost of its animal services contract with Hot Springs after the agreement that took effect this year raised the county's annual cost from $211,000 to $347,613.
The voucher program was a compromise between the county and constituents who argued the tax was adopted to seed the establishment of a county-run animal services program, not to reduce the cost of a contract for services with the city.
The $18.7 million 2018 General Fund budget the county adopted last year included $122,658 in voluntary tax proceeds that had been earmarked for the county's contract with the city. Those funds are now in a restricted account for future animal control purposes.
Local on 07/08/2018