Bosque Farms — At the Nov. 16 village council meeting, Bosque Farms Police Chief Andrew Owen introduced the amended fee schedule since animal control is now overseen by the police department. The chief said neither the village of Los Lunas nor the city of Belen charges surrender fees because those municipalities have infrastructure that Bosque Farms does not.
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The village has one animal control officer and can house only three animals at a time for a few days.
“It costs the village $150 when an animal is surrendered to the (Valencia County Animal Shelter),” Owen said. “That’s why (village animal control officer) Vince (Otero) keeps them for as long as he can, to try to rehome them.”
The chief said if a village resident takes an animal to the county’s animal shelter, the village is billed for the sheltering costs.
“That’s why we have it set up with the shelter that they don’t accept any animals from residents,” he said. “It’s an undue cost. The only thing we are asking is for the exact amount the county is going to charge the village.”
Otero said even if a village resident picked up a stray somewhere else, like on the Pueblo of Isleta on their way home from work, the village would be charged for the surrender at the shelter because the person lives in the village.
“They tell them to take it back and let our animal control deal with it,” he said.
Village resident Lee Wharton said she spoke to the county’s animal services director, Jess Weston, and reviewed the village’s memorandum of understanding with the county for animal shelter services.
“It’s not $150. It is $50 a day,” Wharton said.
Agreeing the cost wasn’t a flat fee, Otero pointed out that when an animal is surrendered to the county shelter, by law, the animal must be held for 72 hours, resulting in a minimum cost to the village of $150.
“They can’t do anything with the animal until after three days. They have to hold it that long,” he said.
According to VCAS director Jess Weston, Belen, Los Lunas and Peralta prefer handling the animals through their specific animal control departments.
“It’s more so they kind of know what’s going on in their community,” says Weston. “We’re basically just a boarding facility that they contract with because they don’t have a facility.”
Presently, Bosque Farms stands as the sole municipality in the county implementing a surrender fee.
Peralta Town Clerk Kori Taylor informed the council staff has discussed adding a surrender fee to the town’s ordinance at its Nov. 28 meeting.
When the Bosque Farms resolution was first brought up for consideration during the Oct. 19 village council meeting, half a dozen people voiced their opinions for and against the surrender fee.
“I believe that if you put this at $150, you’re going have more people turning their animals loose than paying the $150,” said Wharton in October. “It may be what the county does but it doesn’t solve the problem; it’s too much. It’s way too much.”
Another resident, Bill Richardson, said he believes most of the people who surrender the animals are elderly and cannot afford to feed their animals, let alone pay the surrender fee.
Conversely, then Bosque Farms councilwoman-elect Erica De Smet expressed her belief that $150 might not adequately support Otero in his efforts, considering his commitment to working on his days off.
“A lot of these aren’t just elderly people,” De Smet added. “They’re just irresponsible people.”
(VCNB assistant editor Julia Dendinger contributed to this report.)
Jesse Jones lives in Albuquerque with his wife and son. Jesse graduated from of the University of New Mexico twice. This spring, he graduated with a degree in multimedia journalism and, in 2006, he received a bachelor’s degree in university studies with an emphasis in photojournalism. He is a current fellow of the New Mexico Local News Fund.
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April 25, 2024
