{"id":353683,"date":"2026-06-09T21:46:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-09T21:46:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/353683\/"},"modified":"2026-06-09T21:46:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-09T21:46:08","slug":"animal-advocates-attend-budget-hearing-call-for-more-funding-for-fresno-animal-center","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/353683\/","title":{"rendered":"Animal Advocates Attend Budget Hearing, Call For More Funding For Fresno Animal Center"},"content":{"rendered":"

FRESNO, CA (KMJ) \u2013 A debate over funding priorities is brewing at Fresno City Hall, as the Fresno Animal Center\u2019s proposed $9.6 million budget goes before the City Council Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Critics argue too little is being directed toward prevention efforts.<\/p>\n

Of the total, about $7.7 million is allocated for salaries and benefits, while roughly $220,000\u2014just over two percent\u2014is set aside for spay and neuter services.<\/p>\n

Advocates say increasing prevention funding could help reduce overcrowding, euthanasia, and stray animal populations, while volunteers report they are already stretched thin managing the growing crisis.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The Community Paws Alliance is a group of rescues coming together for the common cause of securing spay-and-neuter funding from the city and county of Fresno, they attended Tuesday\u2019s hearing for the public to comment.<\/p>\n

At City Hall on Tuesday was Fresno resident Mell Garcia, who runs the non-profit rescue Mell\u2019s Mutts. She says too much money is being allocated to pay city salaries and not enough for the animals. Garcia has rescued many animals from the streets that have been turned away from the City of Fresno shelter, for lack of space. She says spaying and neutering is one solution to the overpopulation problem.\u00a0 She posted on Facebook:<\/p>\n

The 2026-2027 budget for the Fresno Animal Center<\/a> is being discussed Tuesday and out of their 9.6 million dollars they are only budgeting $220,000(ish) for spay and neuter BUT 5 MILLION FOR SALARIES. PLEASE LET THE City of Fresno, California<\/a> KNOW WE ALL WANT MORE FUNDS FOR SPAY AND NEUTER AND WE DON\u2019T WANT THE RUN AROUND ANYMORE!!!! 7.7 MILLION FOR SALARIES, WAGES AND BENEFITS AND $220,000 FOR SPAY AND NEUTER ????<\/p>\n

ARE YOU GUYS OK WITH THAT??????<\/p>\n

-Mell Garcia, Mell\u2019s Mutt\u201ds Non-Profit Rescue<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Supporters are now urging residents to weigh in before a final decision is made.<\/p>\n

The most cost-effective way to reduce shelter overcrowding is to prevent unwanted litters before they enter the Fresno Animal Center. We respectfully request funding be allocated to non-profits helping spay and neuter instead of salary increases. -Community Paws Alliance<\/p>\n

Listen to the report by KMJ\u2019s Liz Kern.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FRESNO, CA (KMJ) \u2013 A debate over funding priorities is brewing at Fresno City Hall, as the Fresno…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":353684,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[112,114,113],"class_list":["post-353683","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fresno","tag-fresno","tag-fresno-headlines","tag-fresno-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/353683","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=353683"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/353683\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/353684"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=353683"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=353683"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=353683"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}