King County began its new regional animal services program on July 1.

The program spreads the cost of animal control, sheltering and licensing between 27 suburban cities including SeaTac and Tukwila and King County's unincorporated communities, while providing for public safety and care of animals.

Burien, Des Moines and Normandy Park are not part of the regional program.

The County Council's adoption of the regional plan is the culmination of three years of work by the council and the County Executive to reform an animal services system that was scrutinized by numerous studies.

A joint cities-county work group formed in January by County Executive Dow Constantine developed the regional program that creates a partnership between the county and the suburban cities that contract with the county for animal services.

"The reality is that we do not have the animal sheltering capacity in the region without the county shelter in Kent, at least in the near-term.

This new regional model is the best option we have to improve animal welfare and continue to be a good partner with our cities," said Councilwoman Julia Patterson, chair of the council's Budget and Fiscal Management Committee.

"With the support of 27 cities and an executive who has made reforming our government a priority, we are finally moving forward together."_

_"We've come a long way in six months, but this plan is just a beginning, not an end," said Constantine, who partnered with Patterson in the council's animal reforms. "This is a plan to increase revenues for all our partners, reduce costs, and make continual improvements in animal care, disease prevention, shelter overpopulation, systems management, and animal cruelty investigation that have been identified in the Animal Services Strategic Plan and in past reports and studies conducted under the leadership of the Council."

The agreement between the county and cities defines services, expenditures, cost allocation methodologies and establishes a city-county committee to pursue service improvements and cost reductions.

Under the legislation, cities will pay a greater share of the cost of the services with the goal of eventually covering all the costs now subsidized by the county. Cities will have an incentive to generate revenue by increasing the rate of pet licensing, the fees that now help fund the system.

The county, in collaboration with the cities, will undertake entrepreneurial activities, seek partnerships with private animal welfare organizations, and increase donations and the use of volunteers and fostering.

Each of the districts also includes unincorporated areas of the county, and King County will continue to be responsible for the provision of services in the unincorporated areas as the local government provider.

Each region will have a dedicated field officer, overseen by a field sergeant. An animal cruelty sergeant to investigate cruelty cases and two officers on call after regular service hours for emergency response will provide additional assistance.