Fulton County Commission says Atlanta better pay up or lose animal control services

FULTON COUNTY, Ga. — The Fulton County Board of Commissioners has a message for the City of Atlanta: pay up or lose animal control services.

The city has until April 3 to come to an agreement for a contract renewal.

“Okay, I’ll tell you what…if the city of Atlanta don’t want to pay, then the city of Atlanta needs to take over their portion,” said Fulton County Commissioner Khadijah Abdur-Rahman. “I’m disappointed.”

According to the board, if the city does not agree to pay a higher price for services, the county animal control might stop responding to calls from Atlanta residents as soon as April 3.

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Carla Welch, along with several other people living near Armand Park in northeast Atlanta, told Channel 2′s Audrey Washington that they called Animal Services about two dogs they said bit several people in the area.

“It felt like an ice pick stabbed me in the leg,” Welch said.

They now worry about what will happen if they can no longer rely on Animal Services.

Right now, Fulton County has a contract with LifeLine Animal Services, which provides animal control to 15 cities in the county.

The county manager said costs are up, so new agreements went out to the cities.

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According to the chairman of the Fulton County Board of Commissioners, all of the cities agreed except for the City of Atlanta.

“Atlanta accounts for about 55% of all the calls that we receive, about 400 animals per month, and therefore their increase was much larger than the other cities,” said Fulton County Board of Commissioners Chairman Robb Pitts.

Thursday, a spokesperson for the Atlanta Mayor’s office told Washington that the city was actively working to resolve the issue.

“We have been talking and I’m optimistic that an agreement can be reached,” Robb Pitts said.

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