As a cost-cutting measure, as of January 1, 2011, the current role of counties and the New York State Department of Agriculture in the issuance of dog licenses and administration of licensing will be eliminated.
Instead, local governments -- counties, towns and villages -- will assume the responsibility for dog license issuance and the administration of all facets of licensing programs. Local government will also retain 100% of the funds created from license fees, other than surcharges dedicated to the "Animal Population Control Fund."
While state law will still require that dogs over the age of four months be licensed, each New York county or municipality will issue dog licenses for dogs belonging to its residents, just as New York City does currently for dog owners living in Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn, the Bronx and Staten Island.
The NYS Department of Agriculture released guidelines for local governments to summarize the changes and help them prepare for the changes, and is working on a Municipal Dog Licensing Toolkit.
There are two items of particular concern for responsible dog owners:
Beginning in 2011, dog license fees will become exclusively a matter of local policy. Municipalities or counties will establish fees without guidelines from Albany, and it is possible some fees may be set excessively high.
Also beginning in 2011, the statewide bulk rate or "purebred" dog licensing program will cease. Municipalities may choose to offer bulk rate licenses to the owners of multiple dogs, or they may not.
The Dog Federation of New York urges concerned dog owners to participate in the planning and decision-making process as each New York municipality and/or county develops its policies and procedures.
3 comments:
how does a town see that there is compliance with licensing? so far,I only see that it's voluntary and no one gets caught until something happens. Does anyone do a door to door audit? or hold the landloed responsible for having only LICENSED dogs?
Estimates vary, but the generally accepted statistic for dog licensing comliance is 10 - 20% in New York State.
At one time municipalities conducted a dog census and sent agents door to door to verify that dogs were licensed, but that is a rarity in NYS at this point.
IT SEEM AS IF EVERY YEAR THEY COME UP WITH NEW LAWS. SO MANY PEOPLE NOW HAVE PETS WITH THE SURGENCE OF TOY DOGS. I SEE MANY OF THESE DOGS WITHOUT LICENCES AND THEY NEVER GET STOPPED BECAUSE AHHH HE SO CUTE. THEN THE MOMENT THEY SEE A CANE CORSO OR PITBULL OFFICIALS WANT TO STOP THE OWNER AND ASK FOR CREDENTIALS. WITH UNDERSTANDING THAT THE LAWS NEED TO BE UPDATED WE MUST REMEMBER THAT A ANIMAL IS A ANIMAL.OWNING A PET REQUIRES THE SAME ATTENTION. STOP BREED SPECIFIC LAWS ITS JUST THE SAME AS PROFILING.
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