Menifee joining animal shelter group will save City of CL money

With the City of Menifee asking to join the group of cities that finance the Animal Friends of the Valleys, Canyon Lake’s share of its funding will decrease. The City of Canyon Lake approved the entry of Menifee to the funding group at its city council meeting Wednesday.

The animal shelter provides services for five cities in the area, including Canyon Lake, Lake Elsinore, Wildomar, Temecula and Murrieta. The shelter is funded by the Southwest Communities Financing Authority of which the five cities are members. Now the City of Menifee will join the authority and will receive services from the shelter and pay its share.

In November 2004, the Southwest Communities Financing Authority (SCFA) was formed as a Joint Powers Authority for the purpose of financing and constructing an animal shelter in Southwest Riverside County. Later, when the City of Wildomar was incorporated, it joined the group.

In August 2010, the authority signed a memorandum of understanding with Animal Friends of the Valleys (AFV) to build a new animal shelter to serve Southwest Riverside County. Since then, SCFA has maintained an agreement with AFV for it to operate the shelter. In addition, the city has a separate agreement with AFV for animal control services.

The City of Menifee currently contracts with AFV for field services and requested to become a member of SCFA. The agreement must be approved by each of the city councils of each SCFA member city and by the County Board of Supervisors before going into effect. It is expected that each of those entities will approve the pact.

With Menifee on board, overall costs of running the shelter will increase, but because costs will be shared by more cities, the cost for each member agency will decrease. The amount that each city and the county pays is determined by a percentage of animals housed at the facility, which is calculated on an annual basis. Without Menifee, 4.4% of the animals at the AFV facility come from Canyon Lake.

The city’s current debt payment obligation is $37,428 for the 2020-2021 Fiscal Year. With Menifee included, Canyon Lake’s debt service payment for this year would decrease by $5,981.

In addition to debt service payments, member agencies are also responsible for sharing the costs of the operating expenses for the animal shelter. This is also determined by the percentage of animals at the facility. With Menifee as a member, the City of Canyon Lake would pay $5,810 a month for the remaining eight months of the fiscal year. This is a savings of $796 each month. Costs are expected to increase each year due to increases in the minimum wage, cost of food and other items, but the inclusion of Menifee in the JPA will have an overall impact of reducing costs for the member cities.