Do you register your cat, or dog? Or bike for that matter? Cat fees going up, “dog license tax” going up! Fees and taxes going up, up, up as the city tries to stay under the state imposed levy limits.
Ok – I might be writing this just to make fun of Dylan – or as an excuse to show off cute cat photos (somehow a human and Opie got in there too!) Enjoy some knowledge with a side of China (cat) and Sunflower and Rob and Opie (Not our dog! Just a visitor.)
Cat “Fee”
Number 25 on the council agenda tonight is an effort by Mayor Satya Rhodes Conway to raise your cat license fee from $15 to $20 if your cat is spayed or neutered and from $20 to $25 if it is not. This will raise an additional $5,000 for the city of Madison according to the fiscal note. Does that mean Madison only has 1,000 cats? I highly doubt it! I had forgotten that you are supposed to register your cat. I think I knew that 2 or 3 cats ago, but I’ve never registered my cat, have you? Technically the ordinance says you have to register within 30 days of your cat turning 5 months old. The license runs on a calendar year from Jan 1 – December 31. If your cat is caught unlicensed you could get a fine up to $200. Do you think the clerk’s office is having a rush on cat licenses?
Isthmus recently did a “cat issue” to give equal time due to their “dog issue” last year. And yes, the Mayor’s cats appear to be registered according to the hard hitting news by Dylan Brogan. But he also says that there are about 30,000 cats in Madison and the treasurer’s office has never seen more than 2,000 cats registered. That would mean that the city is losing out on half a million dollars! Check out his article for more fun facts about how to register your cat and the find out if you have to walk your cat on a leash.
Dog “Tax”
Item 24 (ordinance) and 26 (resolution) on the council agenda tonight establishes a “dog license tax”
This one seems a little more complicated. The fiscal notes says this “This resolution increases the dog license tax by $5, as a companion to Legistar 58448, which modifies the dog license tax ordinance to establish any increases in the city share of the tax through resolution and allows automatic increases in the dog license tax that are enacted by Dane County. The City’s dog license tax is comprised of city and county shares. Under current city and county ordinance and legislation, $8.75 of each dog license tax is paid to the County for spayed/neutered dogs and $13.75 for other dogs, with $6.25 of each dog license tax retained by the City.” and the resolution spells it out:
The City’s additional dog license tax will be:
(a) $6.25 for each dog, or $6.25 for each dog that becomes 5 months old on or after July 1;
(b) $16.75 for each kennel license (up to 12 dogs) and $6.25 for each additional kennel tax above 12 dogs.
With the county’s increased tax in 2020, the total dog license tax collected by the City under Madison General Ordinances Section 9.50 shall be:
(a) $20.00 for each spayed or neutered dog, or $12.50 for each spayed or neutered dog that becomes 5 months old on or after July 1;
(b) $25.00 for each un-spayed or un-neutered dog, or $15.00 for each un-spayed or un-neutered dog that becomes 5 months old or on or after July 1;
(c) $60.00 for each kennel license (up to 12 dogs), and $20 for each additional kennel tax above 12 dogs.
Again, according to the hard hitting news by Dylan, only about 30% of Madison residents register their dogs. I didn’t do the math to try to figure out but I’m guessing the city is losing out on a whole bunch more money.
Bike Tax and other Licenses
I once paid a bike tax to get a sticker for my bike . . . and then spaced it in the following years. Now my bike has been sitting in my basement for about a year and a half with a flat tire because after Rob’s bike got stolen we didn’t ride our bikes as much.
Now I just needed to figure out what else I’m not paying the city for . . . but its not easy to figure out. If you go to the city’s webpage and click on “Apply” some licenses are there, but I didn’t find any of the three I was looking for. I clicked on the menu, but nothing really seemed obvious there either. I clicked on “Health and safety” and found “Dog and Cat Licensing” and “Pet Licensing and Ownership” which also has cat licensing info for 13 other villages and cities.
Biking was also listed under “health and safety” but the license was harder to find. If you look under “bike laws” you can eventually find a “bike registration” It’s a 4 year registration for $10. It has the instructions on how to register . . . it takes a few steps and instructions to find what you are looking for.
