2 towns balk at animal-control costs

• By RICHARD BURGESS
• Advocate Acadiana bureau
• Published: May 28, 2009 - Page: 1BA

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LAFAYETTE — Some of the smaller cities in Lafayette Parish are questioning a move to have them pay a share of expenses for the Lafayette Animal Control Department.

The department’s $1.4 million budget is supported by taxes collected in the city of Lafayette and in the rural areas of the parish, but not in the five smaller municipalities surrounding Lafayette.

Lafayette City-Parish Emergency Operations Coordinator Mike Mouton, who oversees animal control, said all the municipalities except Scott and Broussard have either approved the cost-share agreement or offered indications that it would be approved.

Mouton responded with a letter to the mayors of Scott and Broussard threatening the suspension of animal-control services in those cities if the governing bodies do not commit to the cost-share agreement by Monday.

“I’m not going to continue to allow the city of Lafayette to pay for services in an autonomous municipality,” Mouton said.

The ultimate decision on stopping service is up to the Lafayette city-parish administration, but Mouton said he will recommend pulling out of any municipality that does not agree to share the cost of animal control, which includes capturing and sheltering strays and dangerous animals.

Scott would pay $56,000 under the agreement, and Broussard would pay $48,000, amounts based on population.

Officials in those cities question what they will get for the money and whether the municipalities have any legal responsibility to help fund animal control.

Scott city attorney Bill Babin and Broussard Mayor Charles Langlinais both pointed to state laws that require the parish to maintain an animal shelter and for the Sheriff’s Office to seize stray animals.

“It’s not our responsibility,” Langlinais said. “Based on what I’ve seen, they are delegated to take care of animal control.

Langlinais said he doubted the Broussard City Council would approve a cost-share agreement, saying council members “chuckled” at the idea when he presented it to them.

Babin said he was not ruling out an agreement with Lafayette city-parish government but wanted more details.

“Obviously, the citizens will call us when they have a dog in their yard, and we will have to deal with it,” Babin said.