HILLTOWNS — In the Helderbergs, several towns have found ways to keep stray dogs in local shelters as the Mohawk Hudson Humane Society in Menands increases fees. The humane society has said the increases are moderate and do not begin to cover growing costs for animal care.

Cheryl Baitsholts is the dog-control officer for both Rensselaerville and Berne, and is also temporarily serving as Knox’s dog-control officer since Lou Saddlemire, the town’s former dog control officer, resigned at the end of last year.

Baitsholts runs her own shelter where she keeps dogs she takes in, charging $15 a day for dogs found in Berne or Rensselaerville. For dogs found in Knox, she charges based on that town’s fee schedule.

Baitsholts was critical of the fees charged by the Menands facility, both to repossess a lost dog or adopt one. She said that she can administer a rabies vaccine at a cost of $5 and can buy the parvovirus vaccine at a discount for $5 a shot, and suggested that the humane society should be able to keep fees low if it is charged the same.

In Westerlo, the town intends to increase by $25 what it charges residents to pick up their dogs. The Mohawk Hudson Humane Society had charged the town $325 per dog in 2016, and so the town would charge an owner retrieving his or her dog that amount and an additional $25 for expenses like transportation. The humane society’s fee increased by $10 in 2017, and this year increased to $351.75. The Westerlo town clerk suggested to the board that the town charge owners $375 per dog.

To adopt a dog from the humane society, the fees range from $100 for older or special-needs dogs to $375 for puppies under six months old. Prices also vary for purebred dogs.

Baitsholts told The Enterprise that she has kept dogs at her kennel for as long as six to eight months while searching for someone to adopt them. She said that she submits letters to the Enterprise editor and advertises dogs that need to be adopted on social media.

“I consider that my contribution to the community,” she said.

She said that she has been serving as a dog-control officer for 22 years and considers it her service to the residents, similar to a firefighter. She also says she does it so that dogs don’t have to be sent to what she describes as a “big jail” for dogs at theMenands facility.

At its last meeting, the Rensselaerville Town Board approved setting up a rental agreement for Berne and Knox to use Baitsholts’s kennel, as the regulatory agency for dog shelters — New York State Agriculture and Markets — would not allow the other towns to use the shelter without this. The Berne Town Board agreed at its last meeting to approve a lease with Rensselaerville at no cost to Berne.

The humane society

Todd Cramer, the chief executive officer for the Mohawk Hudson Humane Society, explained that the redemption fees are part of the contracts with towns to house strays picked up by town dog-control officers. If these dogs are not reclaimed, the humane society attempts to have them adopted.

Cramer said that the humane society increased fees in all its municipal contracts by 5 percent. He described it as a moderate increase. The humane society has contracts with 20 municipalities in total.

“Often we charge less than what it really costs us to care for the pets,” he said.

Expenses include utility bills, food and water for the animals, cleaning supplies, staff, adoption screening, and vaccines. The humane society has 46 staff members between its Menands and Saratoga locations.

Cramer said that towns often don’t understand the costs incurred by the humane society. He added that the cost of care for strays has increased significantly.

The organization opened its new animal shelter this past summer. The entire cost of the project was around $7 million, with $875,000 coming from a state grant, according to Marguerite Pearson, communications manager for the humane society. Cramer said that he would have proposed the fee increase whether or not the facility was built for the humane society.

The humane society purchases vaccines at a similar rate to Baitsholts, as it buys them in bulk, Cramer said, but it’s necessary to compare the entirety of the expenses associated with a shelter.

“It’s not an apples-to-apples comparison,” he said of Baitsholts’s costs and the costs of running a large shelter.

Other humane-society expenses include its low-cost spay and neuter program, its safe-haven program, and its education programs.

The humane society houses dogs for seven days, with a flat fee that averages of about $50 a day charged to a municipality. The organization receives only about $10,000 a year from all contracted municipalities.

Speaking to The Enterprise last year, the humane society’s former CEO Brad Shear said it was a decade ago that he had last heard of a dog being euthanized before its owner arrived. He added that the humane society will not euthanize a dog unless there is a behavior problem or it is very sick, and not because it’s exceeded a time limit.

Shear, had told The Enterprise last year that a Hilltown such as Knox, which does not bring in many dogs, would not affect the humane society were it to end its contract with the organization.

Most of the revenue for the humane society, which is a private not-for-profit, is from fundraisers, donations, and grants. According to Cramer, fundraising and donations make up at least 75 percent of the humane society’s revenue.

According to the organization’s 2015 tax return, which is posted in its website, the humane society received over $3 million in donations and grants, making up about 72 percent of the $4.2 million in revenues.

Other forms of revenue include adoption fees, but Cramer pointed out that the $80 fee to adopt a cat may not even cover the shelter’s cost of caring for that cat, particularly for a lengthy period of time.

“That’s where those fundraising efforts supplement that care,” he said.

A shelter in Knox

A dog shelter in Knox has been in the works for the last two years, shortly after Supervisor Vasilios Lefkaditis started his first term and learned about the high cost to the town to surrender the dogs to the humane society. The town established a committee to create a shelter as well as to address issues such as a large number of unregistered dogs. The committee hosted a “Dog Days” event to register and vaccinate dogs.

According to Lefkaditis, who answered questions through email, the town kennel will be opened immediately once the new dog-control officer is appointed, which will be in about a month. At the town board meeting on Feb. 13, he said that there were four applicants for the job, and arranged with the town board to establish a hiring committee for the position.

Lefkaditis also said at the meeting that there was some interest in Westerlo using Knox’s kennels, which are in the town park’s shed. He later told The Enterprise that Chris Smith, an Albany County legislator from East Berne, had spoken with him about it, and told him to reach out to Westerlo town Councilman Joseph Boone.

Smith had suggested at Westerlo’s last town board meeting that the town work with Knox, given Westerlo’s increased fees. Boone said he would be concerned only that Westerlo would have to pay both Knox and the humane society should the dogs have to leave the Knox kennel.

Up to four dogs can be kept in the Knox kennel and, according to the state’s Agriculture and Markets regulations: Unidentified dogs may be held there for up to five days; dogs whose owners have been notified will be kept there for seven days; and dogs whose owners have been notified by mail will be kept there for nine days, after which the dog is transferred to the humane society.

Owners who pick up their dogs within 24 hours will be charged by the town $1 for every hour their dog is kept at the shelter. After a day has passed, the owner is charged $10 a day for a first offense, $20 a day if it is their second, and $30 a day if it is their third. Owners will also be billed for shelter and medical costs.

Should the town ever have to deliver a dog to the humane society’s facility in Menands, it would be charged $26.25, according to Pearson. This would also be when the dog comes into the adoption program. Lefkaditis hopes that the program will keep Knox residents with lost dogs from driving to the Menands shelter and will also bring in revenue for Knox.