An initial proposal has been given to both the City of Jefferson and Greene County Supervisors for a new animal shelter.

Facilitator Don Orris says after several discussions with the committee, which is made up of County Supervisor Dawn Rudolph, Greene County Sheriff Steve Haupert, Jefferson City Administrator Mike Palmer and Jefferson City Council member Dave Sloan, a proposal was made that the City would initially fund the shelter at 54 percent and the County would make up the other 46 percent. The other parts of the proposal include private funds to build the facility and the split cost to fund it on an annual basis wouldn’t be more than 60-40 between the City and County.

Orris points out the reason for the initial percentages is based on current figures on each entity’s usage of the current shelter. However, the percentage would be reviewed every three years and if the usage figures change, then the breakdown would change. The current facility is owned by the City, but the new facility would would be owned by the County. Orris explains why they came to that decision.

“We did not want people to think that only people from Jefferson could come and use the facility. We wanted the entire county to realize that this is the animal shelter for the entire county.”

The initial cost estimate just to build the facility is $1,228,033, which Orris wants to raise through private funds. The annual expenses to operate the facility are about $161,500, with the worst case scenarios in mind. Currently, it costs $131,800 to operate the shelter, with about $29,000 in added costs.

If the City and County can come to an agreement, then Orris plans to do a fundraising campaign to build the shelter that would be located on the southwest corner of Greene County Development Corporation’s west business park along Highway 4 in Jefferson.

You can hear more from Orris on today’s Community State Bank in Paton Let’s Talk Greene County program.