MALTA >> With more than 4,000 dogs in the town, a state Agriculture and Markets audit found that an unusually high number of them were not licensed.
“They came in and looked at our records and saw we were lower than we should have been for a town this size,” Animal Control Officer Dominic Refino said. “As big as the town is, we should have a lot more registered.”
The audit, conducted in August, unearthed other discrepancies that have since been corrected.
Although Town Clerk Flo Sickels indicated the town has made great progress in registering dogs with approximately 200 dogs now in compliance, the town board has decided recently to ramp up its efforts and authorized Refino and two deputies to go door-to-door to get pets registered.
“The town board is allowing us to go full force with this,” Refino said. “We had a trial period through the end of last year and now we will go through April in order to get as many as we can.”
Supervisor Paul Sausville is pleased with the efforts and believes it is necessary.
“A lot of dogs are not registered,” Sausville said. “It is a safety issue. It’s important to know who owns them.”
Refino and two deputies will go out three days a week for two hours a day to step up efforts to register dogs. They will use current tax roll. Refino said he hopes to notify owners in person of violations, but will leave a notices in neighborhoods canvassed.
“We will go to every house,” Refino said. “Every house that has a dog will get a letter on their door notifying the residents of the violation.”
Refino said the owners will then have 48 hours to register the dog or face a $50 fine. Offending owners are issued appearance tickets, similar to traffic tickets.
An even larger fine could be levied by a judge in a court appearance if the resident still fails to register the dog. According to state Agriculture and Market Law Article 7, Section 118, the fine could also involve jail time.
Refino said if officials find dogs not registered, owners will be given chance to register their pets.
“Their best bet is to get their dogs licensed,” Refino said.
Refino noted that it is fairly cheap to license dogs in Malta.
“It’s $6 for spayed or neutered animals and $11.50 for unspayed or unneutered animals,” Refino said. “That’s way cheaper than a lot of surrounding communities.”
In order to make it easier for residents to register dogs, the town will add service hours at town hall. Extended hours will be offered on Tuesdays from 7 to 9 p.m. and Saturdays from 9 a.m. to noon.
During the Tuesday hours, Saratoga County Animal Shelter will offer free rabies vaccinations at town hall through February.
This is a new program for Malta and Refino hopes the rabies shot clinics will be well attended and demonstrate the need for scheduling future sessions.
“It’s open to anybody, not just town residents,” Refino added. “We’re asking the public to turn out so we can keep the program going.”
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