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Low-cost pet services too expensive for the city
  
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By VANESA BRASHIER
Over the last few weeks, the Advocate has received a few phone calls from area residents who are upset with the City of Cleveland for pulling out of the Spay and Neuter Assistance Program (SNAP).
SNAP makes monthly visits to Liberty County to provide spay and neuter assistance to pets belonging to income-qualified owners and until recently one of those visits was to Cleveland.
To qualify for these free services, the person must have participated in food stamps, free or reduced lunch program, SSI, VA disability, HUD Section 8 housing, Social Security Disability, Medicaid, WIC (Women, Infants and Children), or make less than $10 an hour or be a senior citizen (62 or older).
But the visits to Cleveland no longer take place due to the city council’s decision to not fund the program. In fairness to city leaders, it was the first time they had been asked for financial support by SNAP.
“SNAP has come here for a year and never asked for any funding, but this year they asked for $3,000,” said City Manager Philip Cook. “We struggled through it with our tight budget and just didn’t come up with the money.”
Susan Lamb, community program manager for Houston SNAP Mobile Clinic, was critical of the city’s lack of participation, especially since SNAP turns away people at each mobile clinic because there are always more people requesting services than the clinic can provide. In fact, about one-quarter of the people at each clinic are turned away until a future date.
“I am disappointed that the City of Cleveland did not come up with the funding. The cities of Liberty and Dayton both agreed to it, so I find it hard to believe that Cleveland could not come up with the $3,000,” said Lamb.
“Other people are doing the right thing by spaying and neutering their pets. Some of the people coming down to Liberty and Dayton are from the Cleveland area, but it’s not as easy for them, and some of these people are senior citizens,” she added.
The $3,000 that SNAP asked from each of the three cities in Liberty County only helped offset part of the overall expense of operating the mobile clinic.
“For us to ask for a mere $3,000 from the city, we were providing about $20,000 in services, and that’s all it would take to get us back to Cleveland,” said Lamb.
The rest of the funding for SNAP’s operations in Liberty County comes from the “animal-friendly” license plate fees that are collected by the state.
“What we are asking is a pretty darn cheap way of getting some form of an animal control program going in the county. When it comes right down to it, Liberty County has nothing to control the animal population and the spay and neuter program is the best deal going,” said Lamb.
Currently, the county does not have any type of animal control program and relies on rural residents to take care of their own problems and on cities to see to the rest.
That’s part of the issue for Cook, who says that he believes part of the funding for SNAP should come from the county since most of the people who took advantage of the program while in Cleveland were not actually residents of the city, but were county residents.
This was confirmed by Lamb. She said that a good percentage of the people she saw at the mobile clinics in Liberty, Dayton and Cleveland did not have city addresses.
Speaking on behalf of the county, Liberty County Judge Phil Fitzgerald said, “We are really not doing anything for animal control because the cities are doing such a good job of it.”
Fitzgerald added that while the county’s budget has already been approved, there is a possibility of amending it to include funding for SNAP.
“We would be interested in reviewing the program to see if it is a benefit to the county or not,” said Fitzgerald.
Lamb already knows about the advantage to the county. She has reviewed the numbers of clients the mobile clinic has seen over the past year and the number of potential unwanted dogs and cats that were prevented through spaying and neutering.
“For the entire year, we spayed and neutered 835 animals and had to turn away hundreds more,” said Lamb.
Using conservative estimates, Lamb said those 800-plus animals had the potential to create tens of thousands of offspring. Some experts believe that one female cat and her offspring can produce an estimated 420,000 cats in seven years. Female dogs and their offspring, in a six-year time frame, can produce 67,000.
Tell us what you think
Should the county be responsible for part of the expense of the spay/neuter program? Should the city council have approved the funding to continue SNAP in Cleveland? Go online to www.clevelandadvocate.com to vote in a poll. And let city and county leaders know your position on this matter. To reach the City of Cleveland business office, call 281-592-2667. To reach Liberty County Judge Phil Fitzgerald, call 936-336-4665.
SNAP makes monthly visits to Liberty County to provide spay and neuter assistance to pets belonging to income-qualified owners and until recently one of those visits was to Cleveland.
To qualify for these free services, the person must have participated in food stamps, free or reduced lunch program, SSI, VA disability, HUD Section 8 housing, Social Security Disability, Medicaid, WIC (Women, Infants and Children), or make less than $10 an hour or be a senior citizen (62 or older).
But the visits to Cleveland no longer take place due to the city council’s decision to not fund the program. In fairness to city leaders, it was the first time they had been asked for financial support by SNAP.
“SNAP has come here for a year and never asked for any funding, but this year they asked for $3,000,” said City Manager Philip Cook. “We struggled through it with our tight budget and just didn’t come up with the money.”
Susan Lamb, community program manager for Houston SNAP Mobile Clinic, was critical of the city’s lack of participation, especially since SNAP turns away people at each mobile clinic because there are always more people requesting services than the clinic can provide. In fact, about one-quarter of the people at each clinic are turned away until a future date.
“I am disappointed that the City of Cleveland did not come up with the funding. The cities of Liberty and Dayton both agreed to it, so I find it hard to believe that Cleveland could not come up with the $3,000,” said Lamb.
“Other people are doing the right thing by spaying and neutering their pets. Some of the people coming down to Liberty and Dayton are from the Cleveland area, but it’s not as easy for them, and some of these people are senior citizens,” she added.
The $3,000 that SNAP asked from each of the three cities in Liberty County only helped offset part of the overall expense of operating the mobile clinic.
“For us to ask for a mere $3,000 from the city, we were providing about $20,000 in services, and that’s all it would take to get us back to Cleveland,” said Lamb.
The rest of the funding for SNAP’s operations in Liberty County comes from the “animal-friendly” license plate fees that are collected by the state.
“What we are asking is a pretty darn cheap way of getting some form of an animal control program going in the county. When it comes right down to it, Liberty County has nothing to control the animal population and the spay and neuter program is the best deal going,” said Lamb.
Currently, the county does not have any type of animal control program and relies on rural residents to take care of their own problems and on cities to see to the rest.
That’s part of the issue for Cook, who says that he believes part of the funding for SNAP should come from the county since most of the people who took advantage of the program while in Cleveland were not actually residents of the city, but were county residents.
This was confirmed by Lamb. She said that a good percentage of the people she saw at the mobile clinics in Liberty, Dayton and Cleveland did not have city addresses.
Speaking on behalf of the county, Liberty County Judge Phil Fitzgerald said, “We are really not doing anything for animal control because the cities are doing such a good job of it.”
Fitzgerald added that while the county’s budget has already been approved, there is a possibility of amending it to include funding for SNAP.
“We would be interested in reviewing the program to see if it is a benefit to the county or not,” said Fitzgerald.
Lamb already knows about the advantage to the county. She has reviewed the numbers of clients the mobile clinic has seen over the past year and the number of potential unwanted dogs and cats that were prevented through spaying and neutering.
“For the entire year, we spayed and neutered 835 animals and had to turn away hundreds more,” said Lamb.
Using conservative estimates, Lamb said those 800-plus animals had the potential to create tens of thousands of offspring. Some experts believe that one female cat and her offspring can produce an estimated 420,000 cats in seven years. Female dogs and their offspring, in a six-year time frame, can produce 67,000.
Tell us what you think
Should the county be responsible for part of the expense of the spay/neuter program? Should the city council have approved the funding to continue SNAP in Cleveland? Go online to www.clevelandadvocate.com to vote in a poll. And let city and county leaders know your position on this matter. To reach the City of Cleveland business office, call 281-592-2667. To reach Liberty County Judge Phil Fitzgerald, call 936-336-4665.
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Reader Comments
indian fan wrote on Nov 30, 2008 8:10 PM:
" Why is everyone so surprised at Mr.Cook, we all know that if it doesn't benefit him or soccer he doesn't do it, he could care less about our youth, people outside the city limits, heck I'm pretty sure he really doesn't care what happens to most of you in the city limits, he's already proved that................. "
moiety wrote on Nov 30, 2008 10:52 PM:
" That's pathetic. Pay for the service for the out-of-city residents out of sales tax! Everyone outside of the city limits has to drive into the city limits to spend their paychecks on groceries since HEB and Brookshire Bros haven't seen fit to build a store in Tarkington. It would be nice if the city gave something back. "
rad wrote on Dec 1, 2008 10:08 PM:
" I feel that Liberty County AND the City of Cleveland both should be responsible for the SNAP program coming to Cleveland again. I have been at the mobile clinic and have seen the great number of Cleveland and County residents that qualify for this service get turned away until a later date due the fact that the mobile clinic can only take a certain number of animals per day for surgery. I also voted in the poll and am appalled at the number of votes that feel that if a person cannot afford to spay/neuter their animal, then they should not own them. Great scott people, a great number of people own animals because the irresponsible owners DO NOT get their animals sterilized and then "DUMP" their puppies/kittens off somewhere not caring whether they die or how they die. This is a program that is greatly needed to help control the over population of unwanted dogs/cats. I think Cleveland should be help responsible for SNAP due to the fact that county residents, like myself, do my shopping within the city limits, i.e., groceries, auto repair, prescriptions, clothing, etc., and I pay my share of sales taxes. Now, I can go elsewhere if that is the attitude the city council has regarding SNAP. If Liberty and Dayton can do it for the county residents, why cannot Cleveland do the same? "
fyremsresq wrote on Dec 2, 2008 6:31 PM:
" I also cannot believe that many of you feel if a person cannot afford the $150-$200 to spay or neuter a dog then they should not own one. alot of our community is elderly or in some way in need of companionship and it has been proven so many times in so many places that the love and energy of an animal being around can heal, it can even bring people out of a depression. some buy the dogs or adopt them, some are given them as a gift. as long as they can feed them and shelter them and not abuse them then why shouldn't they have a pet? I guess the people who feel like this are the same ones who think a couple should not have kids if they can't provide everything for them and need some assistance through the tough times. I think if that's the way they feel then maybe they should not be here. most of us had relatives that went through the great depression and wall streets problems and gas lines, struggling in one way or another if the way of thinking is that if you can't provide you shouldn't have kids then most of them would not be here either. everyone struggles at some point and a little assistance goes a long way.no you may not have gotten wic, or medicaid, or some other program but you got help somewhere even from family or friends, and remember for those who don't like others getting assistance.....when you get old and need a nursing home or home care, unless you have millions of dollars saved you also will need assistance to pay the bill. I'll complain more later. "
fyremsresq wrote on Nov 29, 2008 8:31 AM: