Board of Health Meeting - Cat Licensing Fees

[Cat Lover]

[Guest]

[Guest]

meeting minutes from when this was passed back in June:

http://www.cranburytownship.org/BOH_minutes_2009_jun01.pdf

[Guest]

Copy the text from the pdf file:

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ORDINANCE

Second Reading

BOARD OF HEALTH OF THE TOWNSHIP OF CRANBURY ORDNANCE 2009-01

A motion to enter an Ordinance entitled, Board of Health of the Township of Cranbury Ordinance 2009-01, “AN ORDINANCE OF THE BOARD OF HEALTH OF THE TOWNSHIP OF CRANBURY, COUNTY OF MIDDLESEX, STATE OF NEW JERSEY, UPDATING AND AMENDING CHAPTER 162 “ANIMALS” OF THE CRANBURY TOWNSHIP CODE AND REQUIRING THE ANNUAL LICENSING OF CATS”, was presented for second reading and final adoption. A summary of the Ordinance was published in the Cranbury Press, posted on the Township bulletin board and copies were made available to the public. Mr. Van Hise reviewed the Ordinance with the Board and then opened the public hearing on the Ordinance. Monica Carper, 1 Brick Yard Road, feels that the Ordinance is unworkable and unrealistic for farmers. She has numerous barn cats that she indicated she could not possibly put collars on. She does vaccinate her cats, but paying for licenses for each cat would be a financial burden. Ms. Carper feels that the Ordinance needs to be amended to address farms. Dr. Notterman explained that the Board held numerous discussions regarding farm cats and feel that those cats are most at risk for contracting rabies. Edward Cier, 41 Brick Yard Road, advised that he has never seen a rabid cat or dog in Cranbury and feels barn cats are more “street savvy” and house cats are more at risk to contract rabies. Mr. Cier agreed with Ms. Carper that it is impossible to put a collar on a cat and that the Ordinance needs to be amended to address farms. Dan Mulligan, 32 Old Cranbury Road, has heard concerns from farmers regarding the Ordinance. Since the State does not mandate licenses for cats, Mr. Mulligan feels a resolution should be adopted advising of the importance of vaccinating rather than an Ordinance requiring a license. Mr. Van Hise advised that the Board looked at this issue, but concluded that there was no way to have a vaccination requirement without having a way to enforce and keep track of compliance, which a licensing requirement, such as has been in place for dogs, does. Dr. Notterman questioned Mr. Van Hise and Mr. Longo if the Ordinance could be amended to have a blanket fee for people who have numerous cats. Mr. Longo did not feel it was a good idea since it could not be enforced. Mr. Van Hise advised that the Board could consider alternatives, such as a cap on the fee, and any such change could be done via an amendment after the Ordinance is adopted since the licensing requirement does not go into effect until November. The Board expressed that its consideration of any amendment to the Ordinance should be limited to a qualified farm property. No one else wished to speak, so the hearing was declared closed. On motion by Mr. Jackson, seconded by Ms. Gerberich, the Ordinance was adopted by vote:

Ayes:
(Gerberich
(Jackson
(Notterman
(Young

Abstain: (None
Absent: (Coyle
Nays: (None

Dr. Notterman advised that the Board would work with the farmers to mitigate the cost of obtaining licenses and asked Ms. Carper and Mr. Cier to attend the next Board of Health meeting with any ideas that they may have.
..."

[Guest]

How do we get these people replaced on the Board in the future, so we can have people who spend there time on real issues and not coming up with petty ways to tax us for a purpose that actually doesn't improve our health or safety at all?

[Guest]

I am happy that every cat in Cranbury appears to be an indoor cat. All those other well-groomed cats I see every once in a while must be feral cats, right? And all indoor cats stay indoors all the time, that's why we never hear about missing cats, because they never, ever get out, right? Kids never leave doors open....nowhere in Cranbury.

I congratulate all of you!!!

[Guest]

Couldn't we first do an information campaign about the need to get cats vaccinated? I was at the vet with my cat who gets annual check ups. At the vet as well as another person who was telling me she was upset as her cat had not been in 6 years. So people do treat pets differently.

Why not just put a letter in the town newsletter? Truth is, people who vaccinate will continue to do so. Those who do not will continue to do so. A license is not going to make a difference other then generate a few dollars from those people who adhere. If they do not choose to license then even if there is a census they will not know because unlike dogs cats are not clearly in a home. They don't meow when someone rings the door bell.

[Guest]

[Guest]

[Guest]

[Guest]

It's not about the cats or about rabies. It's about the money - another revenue source for never-ending-always-spending government.

[Guest]

http://www.naiaonline.org/articles/archives/catlic95.htm

Enough said. Believe what you want.

[Guest]

[Cat Lover]

I would like to know where the collected funds are being spent. Is the money going to run this licensing program, to outside programs outside of cranbury, etc.

[anon-qq82]

Bethlehem Twp. to waive $85 assessment after farm woman fails to get $8 cat license

Published: Friday, August 17, 2012, 3:00 PM Updated: Friday, August 17, 2012, 3:01 PM

By Terry Wright/Hunterdon County Democrat
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After more than two days of worry, a Bethlehem Township senior citizen was relieved to learn today, Friday, that she wouldn’t have to pay a fine and late fees totaling $85 for not having her farm cat licensed.

The original license fee was only $8. But Dianne Walsh insists she didn’t know her cat needed a license. Walsh, who said she has lived in Bethlehem for 35 years, said she was caught when the township’s animal tabular came around on Wednesday and asked if she had any cats or dogs. According to Walsh, she’d not been visited before.

Walsh and her husband, Thomas, own a farm on Route 173. She and her family have always had cats because they're needed on a farm to control mice and rats, she said in an interview. In years past, the Walshes raised sheep and goats but more recently trees have been the cash crop, she said.

Walsh went to the Township Committee meeting Thursday night with her son-in-law, Michael Fagan, who came from his home in Philadelphia to help plead her case. They urged the township to grant her some kind of relief.

Fagan asked that attorney Antony Iacocca, who was filling in for Robert Kenny, the regular township attorney, be authorized to deal with Walsh’s request for a lower fine. But Mayor John Graefe said that is a “governing body decision,� not one the lawyer would make. The committee would meet with Iacocca in closed “executive� session in hopes of coming up with a plan, Graefe said.

“This was not intentional,� Walsh told the committee, “I never knew I needed a license.�

If Walsh and her husband had known of the license and fee, “they would have paid it,� Fagan said.

After the committee talked about the situation in closed session, it came into public session again and directed the attorney to write a resolution waiving the extra fees for Walsh. This is provided she pays the original $8 fee by Wednesday, Township Clerk Christine Dispenza reported Friday afternoon. In addition, Walsh must have all the cat’s paperwork in order, showing that it’s had the necessary vaccinations and is in fact unable to breed.

Dispenza telephoned the Walsh residence and gave her husband the good news.

Bethlehem, like some other Hunterdon municipalities, has a sliding fee schedule for people late in licensing their pets. The licensing fee is $8 for cats and dogs that have been spayed or neutered and licenses must be obtained by Jan. 31 each year. On the first day of every month thereafter, an additional late penalty of $5 is assessed. And, the township adds a $50 fee for each unlicensed animal found in the door-to-door canvas. That’s how Walsh ended up with the $93 assessment.

According to a notice on the township website, if an animal owner is given a court summons because of noncompliance after Sept. 30, there is a mandatory court appearance and $33 court cost in addition to the accrued fees.

http://www.nj.com/hunterdon-county-democrat/index.ssf/2012/08/8_cat_license_fee_grows_to_93.html

[anon-26o4]

Cranbury has many stray cats. There is a women that visits and feeds them in various places throughout town. This is what attracts the skunks that many have noticed increasing throughout the recent years.