Animal control on the ballot on Skamania County

“Unfortunately, we had significant budget cuts almost 10 years ago, and we lost our animal control position,” Scheyer said. “And the commissioners have not been able to provide funding, or find funding, to get that position back. So I’m trying to find creative ways of getting that funding.”

A 0.03% increase in sales tax should do it, according to Scheyer. In a county with the second-lowest sales tax in the state, it’s “pretty insignificant,” she said.

The new position would involve checking up on lots of dogs, “our biggest concern," she said. "Dogs must be licensed in Skamania County. Without an identification tag, it’s a lot harder to return lost, escaped, or otherwise AWOL dogs home. “I’m a dog owner. I understand that it’s not necessarily negligence on anybody’s part, but sometimes things just happen. And we want to be able to return dogs to their rightful owners,” Scheyer said.

Animal negligence is another big concern, especially horses. When economic times are hard, sometimes people can’t feed their horses, she noted. The officer would patrol the county to keep an eye on things, respond to calls, catch dogs, and help absorb the high volume of animal-related calls that Scheyer’s regular deputies can’t resolve.

“Deputies are not equipped or trained to handle the exorbitant amount of calls involving animal problems and complaints,” reads the department’s “Immediate Goals” webpage. “By combining the duties of both Animal Control and County Code Enforcement, Skamania County residents are provided better overall enforcement for their tax dollars.”

“If this passes, we will have an animal control officer,” Scheyer said.