‘Track record of failure:’ Stopgap funding approved for The Animal Foundation
A trio of Southern Nevada municipalities approved stopgap spending for shelter services at The Animal Foundation this week to allow the nonprofit and the local governments up to six months to negotiate new contracts.
Clark County and the cities of Las Vegas and North Las Vegas fund about one-third of the nonprofit’s overall budget to cover law-mandated holds for animals found or taken from people.
The County Commission approved its measure Tuesday, followed by the Las Vegas and North Las Vegas city councils on Wednesday.
The jurisdictions are collaborating with negotiations, but they have individual contracts that expire at the end of the month. Approving the measures extend the agreements up to six months at a total cost of up to $4.7 million.
Since the outset of the pandemic, the shelter has struggled to keep up with space for the animals. Advocates have accused it of mismanagement and inhumane treatment, and it’s faced audits from Clark County and Las Vegas.
The nonprofit has argued that the issues are no different than those faced by similar facilities across the country due to the economic downturn fueled since the pandemic.
No longer ‘supporting a bad actor’
On Tuesday, Commissioners Marilyn Kirkpatrick and April Becker voted against the county’s stopgap.
Kirkpatrick said that she’s “begrudgingly” voted for additional funding in the past, but that she was no longer “supporting a bad actor.”
“I don’t feel that they’ve ever actually lived up to what they said they would do,” she added.
If an agreement isn’t reached, negotiations would continue without a contract but the county would then start a one-year transition period to start operating its own shelter, said Clark County Deputy District Attorney Sarah Schaerrer.
Clark County operating its own shelter would be challenging, Deputy County Manager Les Lee Shell said.
“We definitely would not want to leave that shelter unsupported, or the animals unsupported,” she said. “So we would do whatever we would need to make that transition, but I do think that we would have a difficult lift.”
Becker took to social media to justify her vote.
“The reason the Animal Foundation is failing is that a partisan political consultant was put in charge instead of someone who knew what they were doing,” she wrote on X. “More often than not, I find that our local government kicks the can down the road instead of doing the hard work to fix our problems.”
Las Vegas’ agenda item received unanimous approval Wednesday.
“Instead of simply rubber-stamping another long-term contract and continuing to pour good money after bad, I want to thank our city team for negotiating aggressively for new a new agreement that breaks from the Animal Foundation’s track record of failure,” Councilwoman Victoria Seaman said.
She added: “It takes time, hence why we need this extension to do what’s best long term for the animals.”
Later on Wednesday, the North Las Vegas City Council approved its measure as part of its consent agenda, which is approved or denied by a single vote with no additional discussion unless a council member pulls it aside for further debate.
The Animal Foundation declined to comment on pending negotiations.
Staff writer Finnegan Belleau contributed to this story.
Contact Ricardo Torres-Cortez at rtorres@reviewjournal.com.
