INDEX TO BLOG
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I have located dog/kennel license fee information on the websites of 67 of Michigan's 83 counties.
While many cities, townships, villages and counties may have adopted their own dog/animal control ordinances which are reasonable and/or at least close to complying with the Dog Law of 1919, these are some of the counties that more blatantly contravene the State of Michigan's Dog Law of 1919 by charging excessive fees for individual dog licenses and/or kennel license fees other than what the law mandates, and/or have written their own ordinance that does contravene the Dog Law of 1919. I have not addressed the cities, villages and townships that have adopted outlaw ordinances, but I am stumbling across more and more of them. I may have to address those later. Here I am only addressing county ordinances.
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I call them OUTLAWS. At the very worst they are arrogant and ignorant county commissioners that believe they have the authority to "write any ordinance they want". At best they are just simply confused and perhaps misguided, following the lead of other outlaw county governments. MCL 46.11(j) spells out exactly that a county cannot adopt an ordinance that contravenes a law of the State of Michigan. NO, they can't write any ordinance they want.
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However, there is no provision in the Dog law of 1919 for accounting for the cost of administering the Dog Law of 1919 and so far I have found no county that can even come close to accounting for their costs. It isn't just that they won't, they can't. They do not keep their records sufficiently to be able to separate the cost. It wouldn't be that difficult to do so, they just don't do it.
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This has led to individual dog license fees from $5 to $40 (now $50) per year. A rather wild difference. Only one county charges $50. That is Muskegon County's "Vector Control" under their health department. How ridiculous!
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It is important to note that "Animal Control" is generally tasked with enforcing ALL animal related laws. But the dog license fee may only be set "sufficient to cover the costs of administering the dog law of 1919".
Michigan Laws and Regulations that the Department of Agriculture says an Animal Control Officer would be charged with enforcing. It's quite a list.
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These four counties have the highest individual dog license fees that I have identified out of the 67 counties with website information.
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7 other counties are over $20
12 counties are $20
21 counties are above $10 but less than $20
14 counties are $10
9 counties are less than $10
the average of these 67 counties being is $15.96 with the extreme high ones included in the calculation
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There are some that while their individual dog license fee is not so bad, they have gone just plain wild with their kennel license fee and "inspection fee".
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These do contravene the Dog Law of 1919. Which does provide that the Dept of Agriculture may set reasonable rules with regards to kennels, that would be Admin Rule 285 129 1
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There were quite a few that did not have kennel information on their website, but these are some that did and they do not comply with the Dog Law of 1919, which grants no authority for a local municipality to promulgate rules regarding kennels.
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Keep in mind the Michigan Dog Law of 1919 mandates
$10 for up to 10 dogs and $25 for over 10 dogs .
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Bay County Michigan
Ingham County Michigan Kennel Licenses
Iron County Michigan
Kalamazoo County Michigan
Macomb County Michigan
Montcalm County Michigan
Newaygo County Michigan
Ottawa County Michigan
Saginaw County Michigan
Sanilac County Michigan
St. Joseph County Michigan
Van Buren County Michigan
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There was kennel license info available on 31 county websites in December of 2008
The basics is in the spreadsheet posted.
I also identified what I have decided to call "WildnWacky" animal control ordinances on the websites of 17 counties.
Only 16 counties do not have any information available online. One of those is Wayne County and I'm thinking maybe their townships and cities take care of it.
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The Good Guys - and yes there are some
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Genesee County seems to be right up there with righteousness
But this isn't so good for Genessee County
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I'm going to wild guess that most of the counties I have not mentioned are at least acting fairly reasonable. They have reasonable fees for both individual dog licenses and kennel licenses.
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Its a shame these few are so far out of line, while the majority seem to be able to function within the law.
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This came up during a search.. I thought it was interesting. Another example of having it both ways???
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The 2007 amendment to the Dog Law of 1919 addresses providng microchipping info to dog owners. Amendment to the Dog Law of 1919
3 comments:
You mention Genesee County as "good guys". I disagree but will only mention one of their "ways" here, about their licensing.
While their license fees may not be as high as other counties, be forewarned if you're from another county and wish to adopt a pet from Genesee County's shelter. You'll be paying the $20 fee for a Genesee County license, even though on the GC Treasurer's page it clearly states you MUST be a resident of GC to purchase a license in GC. Never mind what the Dog Law of 1919 says. You'll have to purchase that GC dog license and then transfer it to your home county. This means that YOUR home county doesn't get the revenue for that year, Genesee County does.
Nice trick to make money, eh?
Angel - Thank you for your comments, sorry it took me so long to 'moderate' and post them.
Sorry to hear all is not grand and glorious in Gennesee County ( I rather suspected there were some problems )
Major problem is the Dog Law of 1919 has some parts that are way too easy to misinterpret.
Animal shelters are covered under another "Public Act" and I think that one requires all dogs adopted be licensed.
No..I'm wrong on that.
The Animal Shelter Law requires they all be spayed or neutered.
So, how does that work? Selling them a GC license?
Where do they get the rabies shot? Which is required to buy a license. and
How do they show a GC address?
Sometimes it helps to show them the law and tell them they are violating the law.
I did the treasurer in our county when he tried to charge me for a duplicate tag. He backed off.
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