The last time the Auburn Valley Humane Society adjusted its fee schedule was in 2021.

Since then, as CEO Phil Morgan informed the Auburn City Council during his presentation at a study session last week, salary and surgical costs related to its mandatory animal spay-neuter and microchip services have risen sharply.

And those increases, Morgan said, mean that AVHS needs to adjust its prices to be competitive with the fees other local animal shelters charge for their services.

On Monday evening (April 17), the Auburn City Council unanimously made the changes.

“And they definitely do need it, as we heard last week,” Deputy Mayor James Jeyraj said of the adjustments, which will help AVHS recover its costs for those services.

The increases go into effect on July 1, 2023.

Since 2013, the city of Auburn has provided animal shelter and related services to Auburn residents through its contract with the AVHS. The current contract with AVHS, which the city adopted on Sept. 19, 2011, directs AVHS to establish the prices for its services, but gives the city the right to review them from time to time to ensure they remain on a level with those of other animal shelters.

City leaders reviewed the prices AVHS currently charges for its services and found them to be “relatively competitive and comparable with those charged by other area shelters.”

In its 10 years of operation, Morgan said last week, it has performed about 36,000 surgeries, about 3,700 vaccinations, adopted about 10,000 cats and dogs and logged about 255,000 volunteer hours. It has also taken in 8,068 public strays and about 2,500 strays picked up by its animal control officer and brought to the shelter.