Proposed Iowa City animal shelter not getting warm response

IOWA CITY, IA  - Iowa City's push to gain support for a new $4 million animal shelter appears to be falling on deaf ears.

Last month, the city released a payment and support plan to the 13 Johnson County municipalities who currently use the shelter.  The municipalities were given a price for both construction and usage, and were asked to agree to or decline the plan by March 1.

As of Monday afternoon, no one has formally signed on to the city's plan. The cities of Lone Tree and University Heights have turned down the offer and are now seeking other animal control options.

"For whatever reason (the shelter) had evolved into a regional facility," said Iowa City manager Tom Markus. "Now that the facility needs to be rebuilt people are seeing for the first time what the true cost of a facility and operations are."

In 2008 the animal shelter was destroyed by flood waters and has since been operating out of a temporary facility on Sand Road.

"We can't afford to provide a service beyond our boarders without equitable reimbursement," Markus said.

Whether the city proceeds with building a $4 million shelter will largely depend on whether or not Johnson County will support it. Iowa City has asked Johnson County to pay for more than $500,000 in construction costs.

"I'm happy to donate as an individual and as a family, but some of the more humane society parts of the shelter should be funded by donors, and not governmental bodies by taxation," said Johnson County Supervisor Janelle Rettig.  "A half-million is outrageous, it's just really hard to swallow and impossible to politically justify."

Supervisor Rod Sullivan said he's hopeful the county and city will be able to work out a less expensive alternative, or the county will have to seek other options, which could mean taking stray animals to the Cedar Valley shelter in Cedar Rapids.

Markus said he's been in communication with city leaders in Coralville and North Liberty, and is prepared to push the March 1st deadline back.