Animal Shelter Director Take City Leaders to Task; Says La Grange Has Not Raised Subsidy Since 2018

The Gardenia E. Janssen Animal Shelter (GJAS) says it needs additional funding from the cities in Fayette County to pay for all the animals they send to the shelter.

GJAS Executive Director Theresa Brown spoke at Monday’s La Grange City Council meeting about their request.

“The shelter is not exempt from the rising cost of doing business, and our business is sheltering the unwanted and discarded dogs and cats of Fayette County including the City of La Grange,” Brown said. “Despite repeated requests, the City of La Grange has not increased their subsidy since 2018.”

Brown said Fayette County leaders began efforts to shelter stray dogs and cats 30 years ago, and the shelter was built 25 years ago.At that time, Brown said the leaders envisioned a framework whereby Fayette County municipalities would contribute a combined 30 percent of the cost of housing stray dogs and cats.

Last year, the shelter housed 1,682 dogs and cats, which cost $777,625, Brown said. She said GJAS has implemented cost-saving measures such as cooperative purchasing for medicines and securing discount pricing for spay and neutering services from local veterinarians.

“Now with a volunteer veterinarian on our board, we’re doing rabies in-house,” Brown said. “That alone saved us $21,000 in 2024.”

She said renovations underway at the shelter will allow GJAS to neuter male cats. In addition, Brown said the shelter cut two full-time positions this year.

“In 2024, every animal that crossed the threshold cost the animal shelter $462,” she said. “The City of La Grange currently pays $42 per animal. In 2024, we cared for 574 dogs and cats from the City Limits of La Grange.”

She said the dogs and cats from La Grange that the shelter cared for cost about $241,000 last year.

“The shelter is asking the City of La Grange to increase their subsidy from $42 to $154 per animal.

Brown said the City of Bastrop subsidizes their animal shelter at a rate of $225 an animal.

“For the past three years, the increase in intake coupled with less disposable income from our donors has severely affected our ability to effectively care for all the animals that come through our doors,” Brown said.

According to documents provided by Brown at the meeting, GJAS experienced a 16.5 percent decrease in fundraising at their two largest events last year.

“However, money alone won’t solve this crisis,” Brown added.

She asked the Council to implement policies such as offering affordable spay and neutering, trapping and return programs for felines, along with “clear and enforced ordinances requiring sterilization, licensing and microchipping for family pets, and reasonable limits on the number of pets per household.”

Councilman Ken Taylor asked Brown how La Grange’s contribution compares to the City of Schulenburg. Brown said Schulenburg recently increased their subsidy by $5,000, which brought their share to about $62 per animal.

“It’s a far lower number of animals from Schulenburg,” Brown said. “To be fair, I will be asking all municipalities for the same increase, to $154 per animal.”

According to information provided by Brown at the meeting, of the total intake last year, most of the stray animals came from unincorporated Fayette County, about 734. La Grange followed with 574 animals brought to the shelter, followed by Schulenburg with 173. Intake from the other incorporated towns amounted to less than 100 animals each.

The City of La Grange is currently formulating their budget for next year. They took no action on the animal shelter’s request.