Glen Cove animal shelter seeks more city funding
Glen Cove City Hall on Glen St. on Wednesday Sept. 23, 2015 in Glen Cove. Credit: Howard Schnapp
Cove Animal Rescue is asking the city of Glen Cove to nearly double the amount of money it allocates to the nonprofit to run the city’s animal shelter.
CAR board president Betty Geiger said that “going forward we can’t maintain the same level of services” with the current annual city contribution of nearly $93,000 a year, plus $12,000 a year for a program to neuter feral cats. Without additional money, the shelter would have to cut its hours, which are 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily, she said.
At a Jan. 16 City Council work session, Geiger gave council members a chart that showed that the nonprofit spent $371,053 in 2017 but received only $281,221 in private donations and city money — for a shortfall of nearly $90,000.
CAR took over the shelter in 2015 and doubled its size, providing significantly more space for animals, Geiger said.
The shelter has about 15 dogs and 85 cats. Many of the cats are unadoptable and have lived in the shelter for years, contributing to the high expenses, she said. The shelter took in about 300 animals last year, and even those that stayed only briefly received checkups and rabies shots, she said.
Most of the funds are used to pay nine part-time employees who clean the shelter and feed, wash, administer medicine to and otherwise care for the animals, Geiger said. Volunteers assist the paid employees
