Corsicana — A vote by the public on a new Corsicana animal shelter isn’t likely to happen this spring, according to city council members and the mayor.

A simple majority of the Corsicana City Council would have to vote to put a bond election on the ballot on May 12, but there currently isn’t even enough support to put it on the council agenda.

The mayor has said he won’t put it on the agenda, but he would if enough council members asked for it. Thus far, only Tom Wilson, precinct 1, has requested it.

For many animal supporters in Corsicana, that’s unacceptable.

“We want everyone to see the facts and decide for themselves,” said Julie Maupin, president of the Navarro County Humane Society. “And the only way to do that is to get it on the agenda. Then, they can make a deliberate and educated decision. That’s all we’re asking for is the opportunity to get the information out to the community.”

On Jan. 27, Corsicana Mayor Chuck McClanahan sent out an e-mail saying he wouldn’t support an election for an animal shelter, nor would he put it on the agenda for the council meeting Tuesday.

“My stance is that I didn’t want to spend the money, about $15,000, putting it on the ballot ... and I didn’t feel like we’d have a good turn-out, a cross-section of citizens in which to give us a true consensus of their willingness to bear the tax increase,” McClanahan said. “My second reasoning is that working with the city and economic development I understand how fragile industries are here. So many are just hanging on, and they told me a tax rate increase of any kind would hurt them.

“I’m not against animals or the animal shelter; it just does not make sense at this time in Corsicana’s economic state,” he added. “It’s just a dollars-and-cents issue.”

Danda Parker, elections administrator for Navarro County, confirmed that if Corsicana has to bear the burden alone, it would cost more than $15,000 for the election. She estimates the actual cost would be closer to $18,591, including $3,000 for programming the machines, renting the machines and hiring the election judges. It will be less if the school district has a contested school board seat election. In that case, the price would be split between the city and school district.

The only council member who has said he would vote for putting the issue before the voters is Wilson. Wilson is a member of the Animal Services Board, which advises the city on issues dealing with pets and the shelter.

“I’m certainly in favor of the citizens having the opportunity to decide,” Wilson said. “That’s the whole purpose of what we’re trying to do. We found out it was going to be nearly impossible to raise the money for a shelter from private funds. We’ve tried, and we raised some, but we felt like the only way we were going to be able to build a new shelter was to have city help. The idea was to present that need and to let the citizens decide. Let them say.”

The estimated cost of a new shelter is $2 million. That would construct a new facility on 45th Street, with larger, easier-to-clean kennels, a surgery center, and quarantine area. The Humane Society has already paid for the architect’s design.

The arguments for a shelter are primarily in the figures of animals destroyed at the current shelter, which is too small for the number of animals going through it.

The mayor’s letter stated that last year the shelter received 2,601 animals, of which 24 percent were adopted, sick injured or aggressive animals were put down, 58 percent of the total, and that 777 animals, roughly one-third, were euthanized because of lack of room.

The version of the mayor’s letter sent out through e-mail was later corrected by the city manager and printed in the Corsicana Daily Sun, but hundreds of people received the uncorrected numbers in the e-mail blast. The e- mail said 42 percent of the animals were put down because they were sick, injured or aggressive.

In order to put the animal shelter issue forth, it would require at least three members of the council to get it onto the agenda, and then three to vote for putting it on the ballot.

Wilson has been open in his support for the shelter, however, none of the other council members said they would support it.

Ruby Williams, mayor pro-tem, said she’d love to have a new shelter, but that “humans are important, also.”

“I have no problems with a new shelter, but at this time I feel there are more pressing things in the city that need addressing,” Williams said. “I’ve had one call from somebody telling me they want it on there, but I’ve had multiple people telling me they don’t want it.”

John McClung, precinct 3, said it’s an emotional issue, but there has to be a “realistic solution.”

“Certainly, there’s room for improvement (at the current shelter) and we need to improve it and enlarge it, but the bottom line is I think it’s just too expensive for us to afford right now,” McClung said. “There’s a lot of folks out there that feel like it’s too much money, and they don’t want to see their taxes go up and feel like there’s a more economical solution to that problem.”

Don Denbow, precinct 4, said he just doesn’t see a new animal shelter as a priority for the city.

“The things I heard during the campaign when I was running was streets and code enforcement, those being the priorities,” Denbow recalled. “I’m not inclined to do it because the council has a lot of time to study the budget, to study what’s needed in the city. I think that’s what we’re elected for.

“I don’t see any extra money and I’m not in favor of raising taxes for any reason,” he added.

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Janet Jacobs may be reached via e-mail at jacobs@corsicanadailysun.com. Want to “sound off” to this article? E-mail: Soundoff@corsicanadailysun.com