Your Urbandale Pet Just Got More Expensive

Hold up on sending in your annual $3 or $6 check to license your pet, Urbandale.

Your pet's 2011 license will be good for an extra few months while the city switches over to a new licensing system this spring.

The bad news: It will cost you more to license your pet.

The Urbandale City Council tonight is to vote on the next stage of consolidating its animal control services with West Des Moines and Clive.

Part of that program involves hiring an independent firm to collect pet licensing fees. Urbandale's fees — $3 for a neutered or spayed animal and $6 if the animal is not neutered or spayed — have not been changed in years.

"The biggest change is that they will be receiving a letter from this company, probably sometime in April, telling them the new cost to license their pet," said Urbandale City Manager A.J. Johnson.

"I'm sure that there will be people who will look at that and say "Holy buckets!" he said.

The proposed fees (including an administrative charge) are:

• $19 for a spayed or neutered dog
• $29 for a dog that has not been spayed or neutered
• $17 for a spayed or neutered cat
• $24 for a cat that has not been spayed or neutered
• $25 late fee for licensing a pet after April 30
• $50, $75 and $100 to get your pet out of a pet shelter if animal control officers picked it up.
• $10 a day boarding fee, after the first day.

Also, under the new ordinance, senior citizens will lose the benefit of licensing a second or third pet in the household for free, as they have had in the past, said Johnson.