Dog fee rise bites pensioners

BUNDABERG region dog owners will pay an extra $238,000 for registering their pets in the next financial year after Bundaberg Regional Council adopted a new fee structure yesterday.

Hardest hit by the changes will be pensioners with desexed dogs, whose fees will jump 166% from $7.50 to $20 per year.

Bundaberg and District Senior Citizens Association secretary Jean Vane said it would be sad to see any pensioner giving up their dog because they could not afford the fees.

“It's not only companionship that they supply, it's also a lot of the people feel more secure if they have a dog, even if it's just a tail-wagging friendly dog,” Mrs Vane said.

“Many of the seniors now are on their own and at least they've got somebody to come home to, even if they only talk to the dog.”

While the $12.50 per year rise might seem like a small increase to others, Mrs Vane said for pensioners on restricted incomes dealing with rising food, fuel and rent costs, it would have a big impact.

“Everything they touch seems to go up, it doesn't keep in line with (pension) rises,” Mrs Vane said.

“Especially if the registration for them is going up - that's just another whack at them.”

Health and environment spokeswoman Cr Mary Wilkinson said the move was about promoting responsible pet ownership.

“This is also trying to encourage everybody to get their dogs desexed,” she told the meeting.

She said the current fee structure was brought in after registration had to be changed, especially considering tougher economic times.

“Because of all the changes that were being put upon all of our residents we did give them a generous fee last year,” she told the meeting.

“However the operational costs of running this program is in the order of $650,000 per annum and with the lower registrations that we did last year we got roughly $100,000 in income, which is not sustainable.”

The changes would see non-desexed dog registrations increase from $30 to $70 per year, pensioner-owned non-desexed dogs will go from $15 to $35 and all desexed dogs will cost $20.

Working and rural dogs will be exempt, while hearing and guide dog-owners will pay $2.

The 11,000 registered dogs in the region are expected to bring in about $336,000 in revenue under the new fees.

Councillors Greg Barnes and Danny Rowleson voted against the motion.