City council will consider giving owners of service dogs a break from paying licence fees.
St. Albert resident and lawyer Kim Villella represented her 17-year-old daughter Amanda Gossmann and the service dog group Dogs with Wings when she asked council for the break on fees for service dogs and service dogs in training.
Villella claims St. Albert is the only municipality in the Capital region that does not have such an exemption for service dogs.
“I think St. Albert has a good track record of helping people with disabilities,” Villella said in an interview. “I think it’s discriminatory to charge a dog for a person who needs it.”
Current city bylaws allow exemptions on licence fees for rescued dogs in temporary foster care. Otherwise, owners of dogs that are spayed or neutered must pay a fee of $36 per calendar year, while the cost for unfixed dogs is $67 for the same timeframe.
According to John Wheelwright, executive director of Dogs with Wings, his organization has tried several times to convince city administration to exempt the service dogs and puppies in training, but to no avail. He’s been given several explanations, including a city rule that gives out only five free licences a year. Weelwright said his organization asked for one too late in the year.
“It’s very gratifying for us that the city sees fit to follow the practices of other municipalities in the Capital region,” he said. “We weren’t particularly heartened by the response from the city in the past.”
Wheelwright added that the group pays for about 12 puppies in training at any one time, coming to a total of $432 per year. Clients who take on a service dog are responsible for their own licensing fee costs.
“We rely on the goodwill of our volunteers to house the dogs,” he added. “It’s meant to be as cost-free as possible.”
Coun. Gareth Jones believes council should look at the issue, something he’s prepared to initiate in the coming weeks. While council had not heard about the issue in the past, it made sense for them to address it now that it was brought to their attention, he said.
“It’s one of those things that you don’t really think about until it’s brought forward. It seems like a no-brainer.”
