The Riverside City Council this week voted 5-2 to approve an updated three-year, $16.8 million agreement with the Riverside County Department of Animal Services (RCDAS) to cover rising operating costs as the agency works to lower its euthanasia rate.
This vote came after some council members took issue with the increased cost and the contract’s language requiring the city to pay an hourly rate for meetings with county staff that go over the allotted time. Councilmembers Philip Falcone and Chuck Conder voted against the agreement.
“The county made the decision, rightfully so and respectfully so, to go to a no-kill shelter,” Falcone said at the November 18 meeting. “But, with that decision made by the [Riverside] County Board of Supervisors, it’s their responsibility to pay for that. So my struggle is the city paying for something that should be purely in the space of the county to pay for.”
The city had previously entered into a multi-year agreement with the county that was set to expire in 2035, according to a staff report submitted to the council, which included language allowing the county to recover the full cost of the services listed in the agreement.
Diana Palatto, the city’s principal management analyst, said the county reviewed the department’s billings and cost of service and found that it had been partially funding city services.
“In conjunction with this, [RCDAS] disclosed that they need to increase lifesaving programs,” Palatto said at Tuesday’s meeting. “This is imperative, since in 2023, our county partner euthanized 37% of dogs and cats, and activists claim that this is the highest euthanasia rate in the United States.”
To lower the rate, RCDAS has been working to hire 38 additional employees, according to Palatto, which has partially contributed to operating costs increasing to $28 million by fiscal year 2026.
RCDAS Public Information Officer Veronica Perez,, in an email to The Riverside Record, said the department has hired 34 employees across its shelters so far. She added that the rate increases were necessary as the department was “laser-focused” on increasing the live outcome rate for the animals in its shelters. She also said the funds would also help pay for spay and neuter clinics, which can reduce overcrowding.
“Operational costs are increasing to not only hire staff, but expand our foster, adoption, rescue, enrichment and pet support programs, to increase life saving and better serve Riverside County communities including our contracted cities,” Perez said. “In 2025, the [Riverside] County Board of Supervisors committed to a goal to create a no-kill county. All of these programs are necessary for animal services to work toward achieving this goal.”
To cover the increased costs, the county presented a revised payment model to the participating cities where it foots the operating costs for unincorporated areas and divides the remaining cost between the contracted cities based on the proportion of animals impounded.
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Between July 2022 to December 2024, Riverside accounted for the highest rate of impounded animals for the contracted cities, second only to the combined total of the county’s unincorporated areas, according to the staff report. The agreement also accounted for annual labor cost increases and varying increases to sheltering fees. In total, the city would need to pay an estimated $4.4 million this fiscal year, $5.7 million the following year and $6.5 million in the third year.
Palatto added that the county would reevaluate the year-three contract price if the city reduced the number of animals being sheltered.
Councilmember Steven Robillard, however, questioned if the proportion of impounded animals correlated to the city’s proximity to a county’s largest animal shelter.
“As you go farther out, it seems to be less and less and less and less animals being recovered, despite population sizes, despite the number of animals being there,” Robillard said. “I think there might be a correlation there that we’re being overcounted.”
Perez said via email that the shelter nearest to Riverside was the busiest since it’s surrounded by areas with the highest population, but that the location of animals was based on their known location information at the time of intake and would be updated if new information was received.
“We thoroughly reconcile all intake and outcome data from our database to avoid human error and any anomalies and we are confident in the accuracy of our intake data,” she said.
Councilmembers Jim Perry, Clarissa Cervantes and Falcone also took issue with language in the agreement stating that said the city would need to pay an hourly rate for meetings that go beyond the contractual obligations of one three-hour in-person meeting per quarter and one virtual meeting per month.
“I can’t remember a time when government entities started charging one another for services, especially before something has even started,” Perry said. “It’s not going over well with me, that we’re entering into a contract and we’re being told up front that you get X amount of hours.”
Palatto explained that the contract presented was a standard template that the county had shared with every city. She added that the agreement provided did not include stipulations she negotiated with the county for a range of required community outreach events which would need extra meetings.
The council also approved $816,000 to fund community outreach such as microchip scanner programs and adoption events, both focused on curbing the number of animals being taken to area shelters.
Palatto added that animal services would be in downtown Riverside on December 4 and 18 to host a free adoption event to coincide with the Festival of Lights.
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