Animal cruelty, vicious animals and animal bites would largely be ignored in unincorporated El Paso County because of new shortfalls being forecast in next year’s revenues.

County commissioners Thursday discussed paying the Humane Society of the Pikes Peak Region only $70,000 next year for animal control, 80 percent less than this year.

Even if the Humane Society agrees to continue providing services for that amount, it means those services would be drastically curtailed, Humane Society director Wes Metzler said during budget discussions with the commissioners.

The cuts would go deeper than the Humane Society contract with the sheriff possibly closing part of the jail, the assessor having to lay off appraisers and the clerk and recorder looking at a $300,000 deficit to make up.

County budget officer Nichola Sapp told the commissioners during their preliminary discussion on the 2009 budget that October and November sales tax collections fell short of expectations by about $1 million, forcing staff to reconsider forecasts for 2009.

Sapp predicted sales tax revenues would fall short of projections by $2.7 million. Several other factors – increased utility costs, a possible drop in property tax revenues and a decline in investment earnings – could leave the county an additional $300,000 in the red, she said.

Overall, the county expects sales tax revenues to total $67.5 million next year, .7 percent less than this year.

Although commissioners are split on how to handle more cuts, they seemed to be in agreement on scaling back payments to the Humane Society.

“I can’t place animal control at the same level as a sheriff’s deputy,” Commissioner Wayne Williams said.

Commissioners Sallie Clark and Amy Lathen agreed.

“I would hope they (Humane Society) would work with us,” Clark said. “We’re in desperate times here.”

It’s unclear whether the Humane Society will agree to such a scaled-back relationship. Metzler and several board members left the meeting after discussing commissioners’ plans to cut the payment to $188,000 next year from this year’s $364,000.

Earlier, Metzler told The Gazette, “The board has said with that kind of decrease we can’t do it. We’ve always taken the attitude if we’re going to do something, we’re going to do it right.”

Commissioners later talked about cutting that further to only $70,000.

Metzler said the facilities charge is a fee commissioners agreed in 1998 to pay annually from 1999 to 2018 to fund its part of a new Humane Society building. The city paid its $1 million share in cash years ago.

The Humane Society has since borrowed to fund its share and the county’s share and paid off the debt, so the county’s annual fee is owed to the Humane Society, Metzler said.He said the agency responds to roughly 1,500 animal bite calls annually in Colorado Springs and unincorporated parts of the county and shelters about 5,000 animals. While the contract doesn’t cover the most remote areas of the county, the agency does respond to about 550 sheriff’s requests for backup throughout the county each year, even when they fall outside the service area, Metzler said.

Although the county agreed to pay the annual facility fee a decade ago, it’s not binding, because the state constitution prohibits the government from agreeing to multi-year obligations, County Attorney Bill Louis said.

The Humane Society has a separate $11,000 contract with the Health Department to record, track and follow up on potential rabies cases, but Metzler said without the county contract, the agency wouldn’t kennel court-ordered animal holds and shelter animals possibly infected with rabies during a quarantine period.

“It becomes your problem,” Metzler told commissioners.

Without taking a vote, commissioners said it’s a luxury the county can no longer afford.

As for where to find $3 million in cuts, commissioners settled on two options to be considered for action on Monday when they finalize the 2009 budget.

One option is to transfer $3 million from the road and bridge reserve fund.

The other is to order further cuts, including 2-percent across-the-board reductions to the sheriff’s, coroner’s and district attorney’s offices, and 5 percent cuts to all other departments.

Sheriff Terry Maketa told The Gazette if forced to cut another $900,000 from his budget, which already has been cut more than $1 million from this year’s level, would prompt him to eliminate at least 17 jobs. Those would come from closing the Office of Emergency Management, the wildland fire team, the hazmat team, arson investigations and two jail wards, he said.

Assessor Mark Lowderman said in an interview he would be forced to slash five jobs to come up with $160,000 in cuts.

“I don’t have five people I can lay off,” he said. “That reduction is going to ensure that we can’t pick up all the taxable property that we can” to be placed on the tax rolls.

Under the across-the-board cutback, the clerk and recorder, who laid off 19 workers this week, would be faced with another $306,900 deficit. The Health Department, which also has laid off people recently, would have to cut another $140,200, while the district attorney would see another $178,800 cut.

The county has slashed payroll by more than 200 jobs in recent years through layoffs, attrition and job elimination.

A slab of ribs, pulled pork, and pulled beef are some of the specialties at the Firehouse Southern Style BBQ on W. Colorado Ave. Monday, December 8, 2008 Photo by (The Gazette/Jerilee Bennett)