Holman: not closing shelter yet

By Gretchen Millich

Lansing, MI – The Ingham County Board of Commissioners will not be closing the animal shelter, at least not yet. Closing the shelter and eliminating animal control enforcement are on a long list of possible cuts commissioners are considering to close a budget gap.

Commissioner Dianne Holman chairs the Law Enforcement Committee. She expects several people who support the shelter to show up at Thursday's meeting, "Apparently, it's out there and all exaggerated that we're going to cut animal control. I've heard all different versions of how it's going around, and we get all kinds of e-mails lately about it. Tonight will be the first time we actually even discuss it."

Commissioner Andy Schor says the county may be able to make up the current budget deficit with one-time fixes, such as a hiring freeze. He says an even bigger budget shortfall is predicted for 2011 and many of the cuts that have been avoided this year will have to be reconsidered.

The Law Enforcement Committee meeting is a 6 o'clock Thursday night at the Human Services Building on South Cedar in Lansing.