Local Government Going To The Dogs
The city council earlier this week approved renewing a contract with PetData Company to handle animal registration and pet licensing for the city. That might not seem like a big deal, but there’s plenty of bite behind the contract’s bark.
PetData is paid a fee for each license sold, receiving $3.50 of the $10 charged to pet owners for a one-year spay/neuter tag. The balance goes into city coffers. Since 2005, when the service was outsourced, Charlotte has hauled in nearly $3.5 million from animal registration and licensing fees. PetData hasn’t fared too poorly, either, with a take of about $930,000.
Before the city’s Privatization and Competition Advisory Committee recommended outsourcing the service, animal registration and licensing fell under the purview of the police department, which apparently had more important tasks at hand than monitoring dog tags and stray cats. The number of licensed pets has increased from about 50,000 at the start of the contract to more than 81,000 last year.
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