Shawano city officials were scratching their heads at a proposal from the Shawano County Humane Society asking for more money to fund its operations or risk losing services in the coming year.
A notice from the humane society was sent out earlier in the summer to municipalities from Pam Nowak, the society’s executive director, and Dusty Martzke, president for the board of directors. The notice is asking for municipalities to help the humane society in one of two ways.
The first option is for municipalities to pay $2.50 for each resident within their borders, based on the most recent official numbers from the U.S. Census. The city of Shawano, having 9,251 residents as of the census, would be contributing $23,127.50 per year.
The second option would seek $500 for every stray dog or cat, or for every dog or cat with a litter, apprehended within municipal boundaries, which would be more challenging for local governments to budget. Municipalities would be billed quarterly under this option.
For any municipalities that don’t choose from the two, the third option will be that the humane society will no longer accept stray dogs or cats from those that do not contribute, according to the notice. The humane society has set a deadline of Nov. 1 to return contracts.
The first option seems to be most fiscally responsible in City Administrator Eddie Sheppard’s view because it’s a fixed amount, but to be asked for this much money suddenly makes it difficult to figure out how to make it happen. He noted the city’s levy limit, set by the state, is only increasing by $48,000, and the humane society’s demand would take up half that amount.
“When this came out, there was significant pushback,” Sheppard said, noting that he plans to attend at least one of the humane society’s informational meetings to iron out all the details. “It’s been a pretty big topic in the municipal world, especially with the clerks (who manage municipal budgets).”
In total, the humane society found homes for 1,109 animals in 2025, a mix of stray and surrendered animals. However, during the same year, the humane society only received $17,335.41 through the state’s statutory apportionment for dog license fees. The rest of the costs have been funded to this point by private donors, community supporters, businesses and foundations.
“They’re telling the communities: ‘This is what it’s going to cost to subsidize the operation or else we’re not going to serve you,’” Sheppard said.
Some strays have been found in the city that came from surrounding towns, according to Sheppard, and the same is true in reverse, so it brings into question how much the city of Shawano should actually pay for what the humane society provides. Given that revenue limits keep municipalities from hiking taxes willy-nilly, he said it could be a hardship for the city.
“If it moves forward as proposed, it would be an unforeseen budgetary expense,” Sheppard said.”I have a lot of questions about how, on the back end, we understand where these animals come from.”
According to City Clerk Lesley Nemetz, the city’s apportionment to the humane society for this year was $1,200, a fraction of what the society is asking for now. She noted that the society’s second option was feasible for the city.
“You have zero control of what your endgame amount is, because it doesn’t matter if John brings it in or the chief’s CSOs (community services officer) brings it in; if it’s a city animal, we’d get charged $500,” Nemetz said.
The humane society operates at an average cost of about $57,000 monthly. In 2025, the humane society took in 578 stray dogs and cats, but only 141 were reclaimed by owners during a five-day hold period. That left the remainder in the care of the humane society, which has to assume responsibility for rehabilitation and medical care.
The humane society had to spend $349,600 to care for stray animals in 2025, coming to about $800 per stray. Among the expenses were housing and daily care, spaying and neutering, rabies and other core vaccinations, microchipping, any needed medical treatment, emergency veterinary care, adoption preparation and placement, as well as behavioral rehabilitation when needed.
Sheppard said he hoped the humane society would allow some wiggle room and allow the proposal to be implemented in phases instead of demanding the city come up with the money this year. He added that other municipalities in Shawano County are seeing decreases to the levy limit, so they have less money to adhere to what the society wants.
“I think they just think it’s something we can pass along, and we’ll just increase this,” Sheppard said. “We can’t, because we have a hard cap. When we start getting more of these agreements, all of a sudden the entirety of all these agreements we’re supporting outside of our operations exceeds our own ability to generate revenue; it causes me concern, and it’s problematic.”
Alderman Jack Young recommended that the humane society look at more flexible options, such as getting city assistance with fundraising.
“That’s a way to help them in a way that doesn’t tie our hands,” Young said.
The proposal was only up for discussion, so no action was taken by the committee.
Mayor Bruce Milavitz expressed concerns about the humane society’s expenses, noting that the local shelter also accepts animals from outside the county, mainly from shelters that practice euthanasia, and takes in animals after disasters like hurricanes, fires and floods.
“Sometimes the no-kill shelters will contact the kill shelters and take in 20 or 30 animals and move them from community to community,” Milavitz said.
lpulaski@newmedia-wi.com
