Kiah is a city of Bloomington shelter dog available for adoption. https://bloomington.in.gov/animal-shelter/animals/Dog

In 2022, the average cost of taking care of an animal at Bloomington’s animal shelter was about $269.

In the same year 1,380 animals that originated inside of Monroe County—but outside of Bloomington and the town of Ellettsville—were taken in at Bloomington’s shelter.

That translates into $371,220 that Monroe County government will pay the city of Bloomington to help cover the city shelter’s expenses in 2024.

The arrangement between Monroe County, the city of Bloomington, and the town of Ellettsville, is covered in an interlocal agreement that has used in for more than 15 years. That’s according to county attorney Jeff Cockerill, speaking at Wednesday’s regular meeting of the county commissioners.

It was at their Wednesday meeting when Monroe County commissioners approved their side of the agreement. Bloomington’s side of the deal will likely appear on a city council agenda before the end of the year. Continue reading “Monroe County OKs its side of animal control agreement with Bloomington” →

Even if  Bloomington and Monroe county government officials have recently been fighting like cats and dogs about topics like the convention center expansion, they have for several years settled into a pattern of uncontroversial cooperation for the sheltering of homeless animals.

At its last meeting of the year, on Dec. 21, Bloomington’s city council approved its side of an interlocal agreement with Monroe County government, and the town of Ellettsville, to help pay for operations at the city’s animal shelter.

The amount specified in the agreement that gets approved by the three governmental entities in any given year is based on the stats from the previous year—for the average cost per animal and the number of animals originating from each jurisdiction.

Last Wednesday, Bloomington’s director of animal care and control, Virgil Sauder, told the city council the average cost per animal for 2021 was $283.

For the 92 animals the shelter took in from Ellettsville in 2021, that works out to $26,036. For the 1,249 animals the shelter took in from non-Bloomington and non-Ellettsville locations in Monroe County, that works out to $353,467. Continue reading “Animal accord for Bloomington, Monroe County, Ellettsville, gets routine OK from city council” →