DeWitt County has long been discussing the agreements made with municipalities for animal control services, and how they could better assist with that department's budget. 

At Thursday night's DeWitt County Public Safety Committee meeting, Chair Megan Myers had the goal of brainstorming how they can create a pay scale for municipalities that incorporates the number of calls that come up in that area and the services that the municipality desires. 

Robb Walters brought up the idea of charging municipalities at the end of each year based on the activity in that area. Sheriff Mike Walker noted that it would be a similar system to how they do things. 

County Administrator Dee Dee Rentmeister brought up that the County is technically only on the hook for calls that are in unincorporated land, and that Animal Control is currently providing more services than required to municipalities. 

With the City of Clinton taking up around 50% of the animal control calls in the County, the Committee plans to start by finding out how much is budgeted by the City for the service from its taxpayers. They hope to get a baseline of what the total cost is and what all of the needs are. 

John Werts emphasized that he feels residents without pets should not be subsidizing animal control services for those who own pets and do so irresponsibly. He noted it's an unfair cost to the large senior population, many of whom are on a fixed income.