AURORA | Aurora’s only animal shelter has been pushed to capacity for years, with more dogs and cats jockeying for spots in the facility’s kennels than available spaces.
That could change under a proposal to double or at least increase the space available to house the city’s lost, surrendered and impounded pets, which Aurora’s City Council pledged $1.5 million in federal COVID-19 relief funds to explore Saturday.
“We have one animal shelter in our entire city of 400,000 people,” Councilmember Francoise Bergan said. “I just think it’s a good investment. We don’t really have any other alternatives.”
The funds will be used along with general impact fees and capital project funds to design and create a financial plan for an all-new facility. Funding for construction could come from certificates of participation with a total face construction cost of between $25 million and $35 million, deputy city manager Laura Perry said Saturday.
Certificates of participation are a long-term financing mechanism that cities use in a way similar to municipal bonds. Unlike bonds, certificates of participation are considered a lease-purchase agreement rather than long-term debt, meaning cities don’t need to get the permission of voters before issuing them.
Councilmember Steve Sundberg questioned whether a warehouse could be repurposed or built for the city’s needs, which city manager Jason Batchelor said the city will investigate once the details of the new facility are determined.
City staffers estimated Saturday that paying for construction using certificates of participation would cost between $1.5 million and $1.8 million annually for 30 years in debt service and interest. More details about the project will be presented to the council at a future meeting.
Besides being a safe space for wayward animals to wait for adoption or transfer to one of the rescues that partners with the shelter, the Aurora Animal Shelter offers vaccinations as well as end-of-life services such as euthanasia and cremation for pet owners. Animals are not euthanized due to the amount of time spent at the shelter or to free up space.
Built in 1983 when the city’s population was less than half its current size, the shelter has pleaded publicly for members of the public to adopt animals and find other places to hand over pets due to crowded conditions.
The situation isn’t as dire as city staffers described Saturday — while Aurora’s director of housing and community services, Jessica Prosser, said the shelter was operating under a “waiver” from the state’s Pet Animal Care and Facilities Act Program that the state could revoke at its discretion, a PACFA representative later said no such waiver exists and that the shelter is in compliance with state regulations.
City spokesman Michael Brannen wrote in an email that Prosser “misspoke” when she referenced a waiver but said the building is at risk of falling out of compliance as it ages. Batchelor said Saturday that “absent a new facility, PACFA is likely going to not allow us to continue out of our existing shelter, certainly not in the long term.”
Some council members said they were uncomfortable with the price tag for issuing certificates of participation, which could cost the city up to $54 million, including interest payments, over the life of the deal.
“Between that and our purchase of Crowne Plaza, we’re spending nearly $100 million for people experiencing homelessness (and) animals experiencing homelessness,” Councilmember Curtis Gardner said. “I have a lot of issues with this.”
However, the majority of the council voiced no objections and said they appreciated the need for a new shelter and stressed how the shelter serves a purpose beyond housing lost pets.
Councilmember Danielle Jurinsky described an incident that took place during a ride-along with an animal services officer, during which she said she and the officer responded to a call about dead geese in the road. She said the geese were ultimately taken to the shelter to be cremated.
“I had to cremate some geese,” Jurinsky said. “So, I mean, this is what is going on at the animal shelter. This isn’t just some big homeless shelter for dogs. This is a part of city government.”