Politics & Government

Bloomingdale Animal Shelter May Break Even This Year

More than $18K left from $30K budgeted for the year for new animal shelter services.

Bloomingdale's new North Jersey Community Animal Shelter has the potential to break even for the year with matching costs and revenue, according to Borough Administrator Ted Ehrenburg.

Ehrenburg gave a report on the figures for the shelter at the council's special meeting Monday. During his report, he said the Animal Control Office (ACO) reported $18,597 left out of the $30,000 that was budgeted for the year for animal sheltering services.

The shelter is now being operated in-house by the ACO after the borough and the Bloomingdale Regional Animal Shelter Society (BASS) could not agree on the terms of a new contract.It opened under the new management and with a new name in May.

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"We wanted to not exceed $30,000 as an operating expense," Mayor Jonathan Dunleavy said. "At the end of the year, this could be a break-even point for the brough."

Ehrenburg said that as of the beginning of the month, there were nine dogs and about 60 cats being sheltered. About $14,000 in revenue was brought in by reclaimed pet fees and other fees and Ehrenburg said the money that was already spent does include for the salaries of the part-time employees that run the shelter.

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Dunleavy noted that this is the first year the borough attempted to run the shelter through the ACO and officials were unsure whether the cost would be lower than contracting the service out.

"So far, we're plugging away," Ehrenburg said.

The shelter, through shared services agreements, services seven towns: Bloomingdale, Butler, North Caldwell, Pompton Lakes, Riverdale, Wanaque and Ringwood.


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