Pet adoption tax credit & special district proposed at animal commission meeting

THOUSAND PALMS, Calif. (KESQ) -- 'No kill in a year,' is an ambitious goal for Riverside County's overcrowded animal shelters.

La Quinta City Councilmember Steve Sanchez may have a way to get there.

He’s proposing a special district made up from just Coachella Valley cities that would have hyper-local policies to keep animals off the streets.  

"A dog that comes from La Quinta could have walked from Indio and Coachella at one time, right? So it's not a La Quinta issue. It's really a regional issue," Sanchez said.

The special district could take the burden off the county as they deal with 3 other shelters in Blythe, San Jacinto and Jurupa Valley, all of which have higher euthanasia rates than the Thousand Palms campus. 

"With that we can control the budget, the policies, the staffing, the outreach, the entire item of the animal services we can control," Sanchez said.

But not everyone is on board, including former Indian Wells Councilmember Ty Peabody who also sits on the commission. He says the plan needs more work and could be pricey. 

"We’re asking city councils if they're willing to come up with millions of dollars to start over again. The answer is probably no. The county would probably love this, it’s one less burden on them. But this is not a practical solution at this point," Peabody said.

That was confirmed by consultants at the meeting, who said a plan for the district would come with a price tag of more than $100,000.

While some activists like the the idea, they want the county to deliver on it’s no kill promise first. 

"We want a working model that is working before we project another model that we don't know what it's going to do because the one we have is not working," Alan Woodruff said.

Steve Sanchez also proposed a pet adoption tax credit at the animal commission meeting. Under AB 691, Assemblyman Greg Wallis and Sanchez are proposing a one-time tax credit per taxpayer, with up to $250 for adoption fees and up to $500 for veterinary expenses.

That bill has yet to be approved.

On Thursday, the animal commission postponed the vote on a special district study as they reached a tie with two members abstaining. Another vote will be taken in their next meeting on June 5.

Stick with News Channel 3 as we continue to follow this story.