Municipal contracts with the Humane League of Lancaster County are down nearly 50 percent for 2010.
"We have about 25 contracts in hand at this point," League president Joan Brown said Wednesday. "We also have heard from a number of municipalities that are still waiting for their boards to make a decision."
That's down from about 48 contracts for dog control services in 2009, she said. There are 60 municipalities in Lancaster County.
"We certainly have enough contracts to continue offering the service next year," Brown said. "And we do expect more contracts to come in by the end of the year."
The issue boiled over earlier this year after League officials, citing the rising costs of caring for strays, raised the rate they charge municipalities for animals brought to the shelter.
Under the 2009 contract, municipalities paid the League 30 cents per resident. That rate is doubling in 2010 and will increase to $1 per resident in 2011.
Previously, municipalities paid a flat rate of $100 per dog dropped off at the shelter.
After an outcry from financially strapped local governments, the Humane League "went back to the drawing board," Brown said.
"We had some concern about some, particularly the smaller municipalities, who only have a small number of animals coming in," she said. "We felt the per-capita rate was far above what their true rate should be."
So the League came back with two offers — municipalities could pay either the per-capita rate or a per-animal rate, based on averages over the past few years.
"We offered each municipality the lesser of those two charges — which we felt was fairly generous," Brown said.
"At this point, they know that we've done our best to address their concerns, and we've come as far as we can to meet them in the middle," she said. "Quite a few were appreciative of our efforts to change things. Some of them weren't. Some of them still think what we're doing is terrible."
In Mount Joy Borough, for example, officials had a choice of paying $5,550 (the per-animal rate) or $4,059 (the per-capita rate). Borough council voted earlier this month to approve the per-capita rate.
Rapho Township approved a per-animal contract for $1,825.
Supervisors in Leacock and Strasburg townships, on the other hand, said both options were too expensive and rejected them in November.
That means they will have to find some other means to dispose of stray dogs.
Some have proposed using the state dog law officer, who can transport strays to the shelter in Chester County. But Brown said municipalities taking that route also may find themselves paying more because the Chester County board voted recently to charge for out-of-county dogs starting next year.
"They know they're going to be inundated, not only from Lancaster County but from other counties as well," Brown said.
An official with the Chester County SPCA could not be reached for immediate comment Wednesday, but Brown said she believes the rate there will be about the same as the local rate — plus transportation fees.
"It was always a slippery slope, counting on another county to take our dogs," Brown said. "That's just shifting the problem to someone else until they can't handle them any more."
The Humane League of Lancaster County operates within a $2 million budget, she said, which is largely funded through donations.
But the number of animals coming into the local shelter is increasing, she said, along with the cost of housing and care. Some shelters no longer offer animal-control services because of the cost, she said.
Brown isn't willing to take that step, she said, but without a change in funding, the Lancaster shelter is two to three years from bankruptcy.
With the new option for local municipalities, Brown said it will take the League "much longer to recover our costs."
"We're gambling that the economy will get better, that our investments will get better and things will improve to the point that everything won't keep hitting us at once," she said.
"But if it's another disastrous year, we're all going to be back at the table next year."