Proposal would shift animal control to Bibb County Sheriff’s Office

Macon-Bibb County’s proposed budget for the next fiscal year could have the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office taking on a larger role in animal control investigations.

One of the major changes recommended by Mayor Robert Reichert in the 2018 spending plan is shifting animal control under the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office.

Under the plan, Animal Welfare Department workers that handle picking up strays, writing citations and responding to other calls would work under the sheriff’s office, Sheriff David Davis said.

The Animal Welfare Department would continue running the day-to-day operations of the shelter, including adoptions and spay and neuter services. Animal Welfare’s budget would go from $857,900 to $474,600 if the department moves to the sheriff’s office.

“Our office gets involved in the more serious cases anyway — neglect and abuse — so in that case we’re already involved in the animal law enforcement facet of animal welfare,” Davis said. “I think doing this would bring some efficiencies.”

Before about five years ago, animal welfare was part of the Macon Police Department, and this move would be “moving law enforcement back with law enforcement,” Macon-Bibb County spokesman Chris Floore said.

But Commissioner Mallory Jones said he thinks the move would be a mistake.

“If you have someone picking up dogs, if it’s not a coordinated effort with Animal Welfare, it will be disjointed,” he said. “The sheriff’s already understaffed. Why would you put this on them?”

The new budget — with $1.5 million in additional money for the sheriff’s office — would allow the department to stay on track to hire about 50 new employees, mostly deputies, this year. At the start of 2017 there were about 160 vacancies in the department.

There’s also funding to help the department try to keep from losing staff to higher-paying law enforcement agencies in the state.

“I feel very confident in the budget to hire what we need,” Davis said. “If we end up hiring a lot more to fully fill up our vacancies, ... certainly we’d have the happy occasion to go back to the commission and ask for more money to pay them.”

This story was originally published May 12, 2017 at 6:09 PM with the headline "Proposal would shift animal control to Bibb County Sheriff’s Office."