Humane Society: funding not enough

LIHU‘E — To the surprise of Kaua‘i County Council members, the Kaua‘i Humane Society did not present a detailed budget for Fiscal Year 2014, which starts July 1, during its scheduled budget hearing Thursday.

Instead, newly-hired KHS Executive Director Penny Cistaro requested an opportunity to sit down with representatives of the county to negotiate a contract.

“As you can see from the documents we have presented … we are operating at a large deficit to the county funding,” she said during Thursday’s budget review session. “And in order to continue to provide the services that we currently provide, we will need additional funding from the county.”

During the first nine months of FY 2013 — which ends June 30 — Cistaro said KHS spent $308,000 of its own money.

A lack of county funding over the last several years has forced KHS to pick up the pieces, according to Cistaro. By doing that, KHS has “pretty much gone through the reserves,” she said.

Director of Finance Steve Hunt said the county’s contract with KHS is one of the few that is mandated in the Hawai‘i Revised Statutes. The current $660,000 contract includes $595,000 for animal control and care and $65,000 for KHS’ spay and neuter program, he said.

While Hunt told the council that KHS cannot develop its scope of work without detailed funding figures, Councilman Mel Rapozo argued that it would make more sense to develop the scope of work first.

“We don’t even have a budget attached to this request, which I’ve never seen,” Rapozo said. “I mean, every department comes up with a budget.”

Hunt said the reality is the funding that the county has provided for the current scope of work at KHS is “insufficient.”  

“We’re in the process now of exploring what can be done for that level of service,” he said. “Typically what has happened is the funding is approved and then the contract is executed.”

“I think it’s backwards,” Rapozo said. “Develop the scope and then let us know how much you need.”  

While the HRS only addresses dogs, the current contract between KHS and the county specifies both dogs and cats. Rapozo said he believes the core services should be what is mandated by the state during such tough economic times.

So far this year, Cistaro said KHS has put up $308,000 of its reserve money.

“If we took that out to 12 months, it would be close to $400,000 that we would be paying into the contract to meet the level of services,” she said.

In the past, Hunt said the contract with KHS has “almost been treated like a grant.”

Councilman Tim Bynum agreed and said he believes KHS has been subsidizing the county’s responsibility.

“It’s just a grant,” he said. “I believe that any analysis will determine that we haven’t fully funded the operations that they provide.”

Hunt said one of the big problems is the current contract is “open-ended.”

“They have a variable cost and if they exceed the budget they are upside down,” he said. “In a good year, if they don’t exceed it, they are in a surplus.”

Council Vice Chair Nadine Nakamura shared the same opinion of other council members, saying she would like to be presented with a detailed budget, including what is mandated by the state, what KHS would like to have in its scope of work and a breakdown of expenses for each service provided by the organization.

Council Chair Jay Furfaro recommended Hunt and Cistaro take another week to gather the information.

Cistaro said more time would be helpful.

“I knew I would not be able to bring a budget into council today without direction and guidance from the council or from the administration,” she said.

KHS is scheduled to be back in front of the council at 2:30 p.m. Friday to present more detailed information, including what services are mandated by the state in the HRS.

Today, 69 percent of the shelter’s animals are county strays, and fall under the county’s funding responsibility, according to Cistaro.

• Chris D’Angelo, lifestyle writer, can be reached at 245-0441 or lifestyle@thegardenisland.com.