The Montezuma County commissioners may reconsider the county’s support of the Cortez Animal Shelter.
On December 19th, during their final meeting of 2016, Keenan Ertel questioned why the county should provide funding to the shelter. The facility, which is overseen by the Cortez Police Department, accepts stray cats and dogs from throughout the county and region. The shelter’s 2017 budget is nearly $250,000. Administrator Melissa Brunner said the county has already reduced the amount it will give the shelter next year by 10 percent, down to $49,500, in keeping with other county budget cuts. But Ertel said he was talking about eliminating the entire amount. Larry Don Suckla said he had gone to the shelter recently to get cats, but balked at the adoption fee of $45 per feline. Suckla said he would like to turn loose a hundred cats on his property to reduce the mouse population. The board made no decision about the shelter funding.
--David Long contributed to this report
