The Friends of Tahoe Vista Animal Shelter’s six-month quest to save North Tahoe’s aging shelter is over. The final decision came after the Placer County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously on Tuesday to contract with the Town of Truckee to provide animal shelter services for the eastern portion of the county. While supporters of the Tahoe Vista shelter offered an alternative proposal to maintain a shelter locally, the supervisors did not feel it was financially viable or in the animals’ best interest.
The board of supervisors approved a 30-year agreement with Truckee starting Sept. 1, 2015 to provide animal shelter services at the Town of Truckee Animal Shelter for a one-time payment of $750,000, as well as $250 per animal. This will save Placer County $100,000 annually, which translates to $2.25 million over 30 years after subtracting the above costs. The 1,500-square foot Tahoe Vista shelter, which was built in 1972 out of cinder blocks, is in poor condition and not compliant with current standards for animal care and sheltering as recommended by the Humane Society of the United States. As a result, the facility is not conducive to adoptions. It adopts out 90 animals a year, with an average adoption time of more than four months for dogs and eight months for cats, whereas the new 10,000-square foot Truckee facility, which was built two years ago, does 500 adoptions a year and has an average adoption time of 17 days. (According to the Humane Society of Truckee-Tahoe, the Tahoe Vista shelter takes in approximately 90 animals per year but only adopted out 29 in 2014 and 35 in 2013). At an estimated cost of $5.7 million, building a new shelter in Tahoe Vista was deemed too expensive by the county.
“That amount seems excessive when there is a modern facility so close by already in operation,” said Wesley Nicks, Placer County director of environmental health and animal services, noting the Truckee shelter is 13 miles from Tahoe Vista.
The Friends of Tahoe Vista Animal Shelter, which formed after the supervisors voted in January to give community members more time to come up with an alternative plan, presented its proposal at the July 21 meeting in Squaw Valley. The group, which has raised $100,000 in six months, proposed building a new, 7,000-square foot shelter in the same location as the existing shelter on National Avenue in Tahoe Vista. Their goal is to cut down adoption time for dogs to six weeks, which would allow them to accommodate 104 dogs and 78 cats per year. Daren McDonald, a CPA with the Friends of Tahoe Vista Animal Shelter, explained the group would raise the money through a two-year, $100 limited parcel tax, as well as ongoing fundraising to cover the estimated $50,000 transition costs. They hope to complete the entire process — from design to raising funds to demolition and construction — in two years.
“The advantage is we keep services local — 94 percent of animals served come from within the Basin,” said Linda Slack-Cruz, spokesperson for the Friends of Tahoe Vista Animal Shelter. “And it increases community involvement.”
The board of supervisors, however, were not convinced. Supervisor Jennifer Montgomery, who represents the Tahoe area, pointed out that the group had missed the deadline to file to get the parcel tax on the ballot, on top of which there is no general election this November. This means that the earliest the parcel tax could be on the ballot is next June, which sets back the Friends’ timeline. Although McDonald said that Friends had received an 88 percent approval rating on a Facebook survey about building a new shelter, Montgomery was skeptical.
“I would be surprised if you would get 88 percent or even meet the minimum requirements to pass a measure like this,” she said. “It’s a really hard row to hoe — a tax.”
Supervisor Kirk Uhler was also doubtful if the Friends’ had taken into consideration what it takes to get a parcel tax on the ballot and get it passed.
“This proposal hinges on the passing of a parcel tax. It’s a $4 million campaign to pass a parcel tax. And the political realities are that you are asking us to place a tax on the ballot, and you don’t receive the money until the following fiscal year,” he said. “How much money are you willing to spend and raise?”
Supervisors Uhler and Montgomery were also dubious that taking more time to build a new animal shelter, which means keeping the animals in the sub-par conditions in Tahoe Vista, was in either the taxpayers’ or animals’ best interest. Montgomery estimated that a more accurate timetable in constructing a new shelter was six to eight years, not two, noting that it took the Town of Truckee six years.
“You are asking us to subject the animals to the current conditions they are in today,” Uhler told the Friends of Tahoe Vista Animal Shelter. “After touring the facility, I think it was a mistake keeping those animals in the shelter for another six months when they could have been in a better facility. It’s not a solution that has the best interest of the animals in mind.”
The supervisors’ vote was met with boos from the audience. The agreement with the Town of Truckee precludes Placer from building an animal shelter in Tahoe for five years.
“The purpose of government is to establish and protect individual rights,” said one resident during public comment. “I believe I have the right to have a shelter close to my home.”
Tahoe Vista resident Pat Dillon echoed that sentiment.
“Placer just built a $24 million animal shelter in Auburn,” he said. “We deserve a facility, and it doesn’t have to be $24 million.”
