Yorba Linda to pay for extra hours in OC Animal Care dog license canvass effort throughout city

Just about two-thirds of Yorba Linda's estimated 14,760 dogs are properly licensed, according to the latest numbers from Orange County Animal Care, the government agency the city pays to provide residents with animal control and shelter services.

So again for the fiscal year beginning July 1, the city will pay extra for increased efforts to “encourage license compliance and provide additional revenue to offset animal service costs,” according to a May 7 report from Allison Estes, assistant to City Manager Mark Pulone.

Last year, the city bought 272 extra hours to supplement the 354 regular hours the agency provides to canvass the community for license violations. The extra hours cost $4,778 and generated $18,000 in additional revenue.

The total 626 hours brought in $73,304, nearly 28 percent more than the $57,480 from the 354 hours the previous year, resulting in close to a 10 percent increase in compliance with licensing requirements, the report noted.

Total cost for the agency's services for the coming year is expected to be $333,411, with factors such as actual costs and reductions due to fee revenue affecting the price to be paid.

Yorba Linda also is paying $512,000 over a 10-year period that will end in 2026 as the city's share for the new $35 million regional animal shelter at 1630 Victory Road in Tustin that opened last year. The shelter takes in about 18,000 animals each year.

The animal care agency has served Yorba Linda since 1986. Among services provided are

patrolling and impounding stray and owner-released animals, rabies control, leash and nuisance enforcement, animal cruelty investigations, citation issuance and collection of impound fees.

Others are renewal of existing licenses, door-to-door canvassing for license compliance, mail-in processing of first-time licenses, board and care of animals at the new shelter and helping residents report barking dog complaints in their neighborhood.

Some changes to the agency's service model for the coming year: reclassifying several animal control officers who retrieve dead animals to lower level positions, encouraging residents to drop off stray trapped cats at the shelter instead of dispatching officers to retrieve them, conducting dog compliance checks only for complaints received and dispatching officers only to urgent stray dog calls.

Fourteen cities and unincorporated county territory, including the East Placentia and Yorba Linda's Fairlynn and Country Club county islands, contract with the agency for animal care services. North county clients are Brea, Fullerton, Placentia and Yorba Linda.

According to the agency's figures, based on a formula provided by the American Veterinary Association, 36.1 percent, or 9,225, of Yorba Linda's 25,554 households own an average 1.6 dogs for a total 14,760 canine population.

Yorba Linda's cat population is estimated at 16,958, with 8,075 households owning an average 2.1 cats each.