People wait in the lobby of Greenhill Humane Society holding stray cats and dogs. Barks and yips emanate from the back rooms, where kittens, puppies, guinea pigs and rabbits fill the cages of the shelter. They have been waiting to find their forever homes while being taken care of by the staff and volunteers.
But after July 1, the shelter may not be able to take animals brought in by Eugene residents.
A budget proposed by the City of Eugene would cut its funding to Greenhill Humane Society by 57%.
“We would be unable to shelter 57% of the animals we would normally be sheltering,” Greenhill Humane Society Executive Director Cary Lieberman said. “It equates to about 700 animals a year.”
Greenhill Humane Society is an animal protection organization in Eugene. Its operations include animal adoptions, taking care of stray animals, crisis care boarding for animals in danger and other animal healthcare needs.
“The shelter would be forced to shift operations if the proposed budget is accepted,” Lieberman said. Although it has no intention to lay off any employees, “Greenhill must take from other parts of its budget to replace the lost municipal contributions,” Lieberman said.
Greenhill Humane Society has contracts with other local municipalities, but the city of Eugene accounts for one-third of the animals brought into the Greenhill Humane Society. Most are from the city’s two animal control officers, one of which will no longer be available if the proposed budget is approved.
“Part of [the City of Eugene’s] role is to protect the community and animals and some of these animals are stray, in abuse-neglect cases and dangerous dogs,” Lieberman said. “So what they’re proposing would impact everything and remove one of two animal control officers available.”
Additional effects and changes from the proposed budget include the fact that the Greenhill Humane Society will no longer be able to accept animals from Eugene residents, only animal welfare officers.
Lieberman said the Greenhill Humane Society prides itself on accepting animals from all sources, including locals, shelters, prior owners and members of the community that have found stray animals.
“The biggest consequence is the increasing population,” Lieberman said. “The cats that would be brought in, spayed and neutered would not be happening anymore, so there will be hundreds of stray animals loose in the city and that could be dangerous for them and for the public’s safety.”
According to Lieberman, society also takes in and cares for strays, which can carry diseases like ringworm. Therefore, there could be potential animal bites and cases with the increase of loose animals that the city’s budget is proposing.
If the budget passes, Greenhill Humane Society will only accept animals from Eugene residents through one animal welfare officer, who will be available four days out of the week.
“What the city is proposing would impact everything from stray animals all the way down to caring for people in animal crisis situations,” Lieberman said. “If the city is unable to pay for those areas of work then we are unable to do the work.”
Lieberman said he feels the city proposed to cut budgets from animal services because the city’s priorities are shifting.
“I think that the city thought it was a safe move to pull funding from animal services and shift it elsewhere,” Lieberman said. “They are significantly increasing police funding overall and some other aspects of downtown safety.”
City Manager Sarah Medary said the proposed budget includes strategies to improve the city of Eugene’s materials and services in all departments. However, animal welfare programs such as Greenhill are facing reductions, as are libraries and support program services.
“Any one of these factors is a challenge to solve and we’ve had to make some very difficult budget decisions in the proposed budget,” Medary wrote in an email. “There is a need for over $5 million in services that are priorities for Council and the community or critical to the organization’s stability.”
Lieberman said the general public, staff and followers of Greenhill Humane Society have had negative reactions to the proposed budget.
“I’ve heard a lot of feedback from the public about the budget cuts,” Lieberman said. “No one understands them. No one wants them. We have not heard from one person that thinks this is a good idea.”
Medary said the city of Eugene is experiencing many challenges such as high inflation, hiring and retaining a workforce and the cost of operations outpacing property tax revenue. These are the leading factors informing the decision to decrease the budget for animal services, she said.
“If the city were to fund animal services properly, it would be about a million dollars more than they’re currently budgeting per year,” Lieberman said. “Their budget for a year is $700 million, which is a lot and makes that million insignificant.”
If passed by Eugene City Council and the Budget Committee, the new public safety budget would be $228 million, which is a $120 million increase.
Chair of Eugene’s Budget Committee Tai Pruce-Zimmerman said he and the rest of the 15-member budget committee have recognized the proposed budget by Medary to be a thoughtful attempt at handling Eugene’s financial situation. Although neither party wants to cut any financials from animal services, the Budget Committee knows that it is fundamentally necessary, he said.
“The last couple of years, inflation has been super high, and there are significant increases in employee wages,” Pruce-Zimmerman said. “All of these factors and more add to some significant, unfortunate cuts we need to make this year to make the budget balanced.”
Greenhill Humane Society has had a contract with the city of Eugene for 11 years, and according to Lieberman, the staff of Greenhill have felt neglected and ignored by the city despite how hard they have been working to get to the place that they are. Additionally, “Greenhill was informed about the budget through documentation at the same time as the public, furthering their emotions of neglect by the city of Eugene,” Lieberman said.
“I would assume the reason that they were making the cuts in that area is because things have been running really well for a while,” Lieberman said. “I don’t think there was any malicious intent, but I think there was an oversight on their part.”
If passed, the proposed budget will go into effect on July 1.
“This community has been a role model for other communities all around the world as I speak nationally about animal welfare. The partnership that we had with the city of Eugene was one that I was able to speak about positively before this,” Lieberman said. “It has been cold and personally disrespectful, and there hasn’t been any explanation.”
The Budget Committee will hold a public hearing Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. via Zoom. Information on how to provide comment can be found here.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated with information about the Budget Committee’s public hearing.
