Lake Dallas permanently closes its animal shelter

LAKE DALLAS, Texas - The Lake Dallas Animal Shelter closed its doors for good on Monday.

A sign on the front door says there are no animals to adopt.

According to City Manager Luke Olson, Lake Dallas leaders made the tough decision to close the shelter earlier this year due to budget constraints.

"Unfortunately, these are decisions that have to be made," he said. "Are they popular? No. But at the end of the day, we're trying to provide a good level of service to the residents of the city of Lake Dallas."

Olson says closing the shelter will save the city about $200,000 per year. He says that money will help fund much-needed road projects in the growing city.

In a letter to Lake Dallas residents, Mayor Andi Nolan said in part, "This year, the city has seen an increase of $130,000 in property tax revenue. However, inflation has outpaced this growth. Additionally, our fire contract with Lake Cities Fire Department continues to rise annually to meet our operational costs."

The city of Lake Dallas has contracted with All American Dogs in Pilot Point to provide services beginning Tuesday. The nonprofit handles animal services and adoptions for 29 other area municipalities.

If an animal is found and is chipped or discovered to belong to a Lake Dallas resident, the nonprofit will deliver the animal back to its owner.

"You're not really going to see too much of a difference other than we're just not having the shelter here in town. If your animals are up to date and chipped, All American will bring those to you," Olson said. "And if that information's up to date, they'll bring those animals back to you directly to your door. So we ask everyone to chip in, keep all their information up to date. If there's any issues, just like before, you can call the non-emergency dispatch number or you give the police department a call during regular business hours."

In the case of a late-night animal rescue call, Lake Dallas police will pick up and take the animal to police headquarters until it can be transferred to All American Dogs.

"Just like with anything where there’s going to be some growing pains, we’re going to figure it out," Olson said. "And if the time comes later on down, we can reopen the animal shelter and provide the level of service that does it justice. And then that would be something we would recommend back to city council," Olson said.

Shelter staff members affected by the closure will receive four weeks’ salary and insurance. They’re also being invited to interview at All American Dogs.

The mayor says council is exploring using the shelter's office space to house public works employees, whose building is said to be in poor condition.