Saskatoon SPCA emergency funding request denied

The Saskatoon SPCA’s emergency funding request has been denied by city council, for now.

On Monday, SPCA executive director Graham Dickson made a presentation to councillors on the first day of budget deliberations, explaining why $50,000 per month was needed for the next few months.

He said the organization only had enough in its reserves to be able to keeps its doors open for one more year. The SPCA has also been operating the city pound at a cost savings to the city for the last several years.

“In looking at the cost of running the pound in comparison to the funding we get, we’ve actually found that there’s a $2.3 million funding shortfall since 2018. Essentially, what we’ve been doing is using the charitable side of our work to offset the funding shortfall that we see for our pound operations and for our animal protection work,” he explained earlier this week.

The SPCA is seeing higher prices for food, more animals are being brought to the pound, they’re staying longer, some need medical attention that can’t be given at the facility, and animal adoptions are down.

“We’re at full capacity almost every day here, and we’re having to turn the public away,” he added.

After hearing the request, city administration reported back to council, with a recommendation to continue with the existing agreement. The city will work with the SPCA over the next couple of months to review “Overall operations to see if there are opportunities to assist them in addressing operating expenditures in relation to their current funding shortfall.”

If that doesn’t work, then council may consider other budget or funding alternatives at a later date. A complete report is expected by the end of March, 2022.

The current agreement between the parties was last negotiated in 2018 and remains in effect until 2023. An average of 4,172 animals are taken to the pound every year.

In 2020, the SPCA’s total revenues were just over $2 million, with $439,524 for the pound services contract payment, and $162,729 from the Animal Protection Agency Services Grant.