Kittens were Saturday's pets of the week at the Douglas County Animal Shelter. To adopt a pet, whether canine or feline, call 775-782-9061.
A final county budget included $40,000 for a new cat facility at the Douglas County Animal Shelter.
Douglas Animal Welfare Group President Katherine Dodge thanked county commissioners and staff for approving the expenditure.
The group turned out at a previous budget hearing seeking funding for the improvement.
“We have a local architect who has volunteered to help with the design, and we have a Douglas County resident, whose animals we have helped, who has offered to help with framing and roofing,” Dodge said. “We are just starting the project, so there aren’t many details, yet.”
The present shelter was built a dozen years ago and can only house six cats at a time.
“It is sinking, has no water for cleaning, or a quarantine area,” Dodge said “We plan to include a quarantine area in the new cat shelter, as well as an area for socializing the cats and hopefully meeting and greeting potential adopters.”
On May 20, Douglas County commissioners approved a final $247.6 million budget that included $77.4 million in the general fund, $78 million in special revenue funds and $28.8 million for the towns of Gardnerville, Genoa and Minden.
“The budget is a big piece of what we do in government,” Chief Financial Officer Kathy Lewis said.
Lewis said that 41.78 percent of the county’s revenue comes from property taxes and state consolidated taxes, which is mostly from sales tax.
Salaries and wages account for $31.2 million or 40.36 percent of the general fund, with employee benefits at $16.5 million or 21.36 percent.
“The general fund is mostly services to the residents,” she said. “We expect it to mostly be salaries, wages and benefits.”
Lewis said that public safety, which funds the sheriff’s office, went up nearly $4 million to $29.29 million, or 37.81 percent of the general fund.
Last year’s budget was adopted right around the adoption of contracts with the public safety bargaining units and implementation of a salary study.
Seven vacant positions were eliminated from the budget. No funding for community grants was included in the budget, though Commissioner Sharla Hales said she was hopeful there could be some money available should there be a greater than anticipated ending fund balance.
Lewis said her office is budgeting for a decrease in consolidated taxes projected by the state.
