YOUNGSTOWN – The Animal Charity of Ohio Humane Society said it has such a high number of abused animals, with 90 percent of them coming from Youngstown, that unless it receives financial assistance from the city, it may have to stop the services here.
“If Youngstown has to be too much and it gets there, we could be out of town,” Animal Charity chief operating officer Jane MacMurchy told the city council’s health committee Tuesday.
He added: “We hope it never happens, but we are dealing with emergency numbers.”
Councilwoman Lauren McNally, D-5th Ward and chairwoman of the committee, said, “If you pull out of Youngstown because of expenses or cut back, it would be a serious crisis for Youngstown.”
MacMurchy requested annual funding of about $290,000, which would cover 90 percent of medical costs for the city’s animals and care staff.
McNally said the city’s American Rescue Plan committee should consider sending the request to the council for a vote.
The city would consider using ARP funds for the first few years to pay Animal Charity expenses, he said.
“Ideally it would be an annual payment,” MacMurchy said. “But I understand there are other needs in the city.”
STATISTICS
Of the 204 animals in Animal Charity’s care, 185 of them, 91 percent, are from Youngstown, according to statistics provided by MacMurchy. Also, of the 529 animals taken in by Animal Charity last year, 92 percent came from Youngstown, its statistics show.
Among the Youngstown animals being cared for, he said, are four roosters from a cockfighting investigation, as well as rabbits, horses, pigs, a snake and a bearded dragon.
Of the 416 animals rescued from abuse this year, through Tuesday, 308 are from Youngstown, 74 percent.
Animal Charity is on track to surpass the 529 animals it took in all of last year, MacMurchy said.
If Animal Charity stopped taking in abused animals in Youngstown, Michael Durkin, the city’s superintendent of code enforcement and disease remediation, said it would be a serious problem.
“We would have to restructure everything,” he said. “We would have to create a whole new department.”
In June, MacMurchy asked city council for money to help pay for the organization’s new offices.
Animal Charity will finance the move from Market Street in Boardman to a building at Southern Boulevard and McClurg Road through a bank loan, he said Tuesday.
The project is expected to cost about $600,000.
LEAD PAINT
Also at Tuesday’s meeting, Health Commissioner Erin Bishop presented a proposed lead-based residential paint ordinance for the council to consider.
Any rental property in the city built before 1978 would be required to obtain a certificate after a test determines the structures are free of lead-based paint. If lead-based paint is found, it should be repaired.
“What we want to do is be proactive and not allow people to move into homes with lead-based paint,” he said.
Most of the city’s housing stock was built before 1978, Durkin said.
The policy would take several years to be fully implemented, Bishop said.
McNally called the proposal “a good step forward in making sure we’re protecting our residents, especially the most vulnerable.”
The committee agreed to have the board vote on the policy. Their next meeting is on August 24.
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