Politics & Government

Local Governments to Take Over Dog Licensing

Most Five Towns municipalities defer requests to Town of Hempstead.

Village boards in the Five Towns will become responsible for the issuance of dog licenses in January 2011 after the state said it would no longer be in charge of them.

The change will not affect most Five Towns villages — with the exception of and , the municipalities already have handed the responsibility of dog licensing to the Town of Hempstead.

"We do the licensing, but the state has in the past sent us the applications and given out the tags," said Hempstead press secretary Susie Pokalsky, who said the town would take over those duties. "People in the unincorporated areas have come to us for licensing. We'll also be accommodating the villages that request it."

Find out what's happening in Five Townswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Effective Jan. 1, incorporated villages will be responsible for all dog licensing, including the procurement of new municipal identification tags, tracking and license renewals.

Hewlett Neck has been issuing dog licenses, but it plans to ask the Town of Hempstead to take over for them, according to village clerk Marie Velotti.

Find out what's happening in Five Townswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Under the new program, villages — or the Town of Hempstead — will collect and retain all license fees with the exception of a surcharge to be deposited in a New York State animal population control fund. The surcharge must be a minimum of $1 for altered dogs and at least $3 for unaltered dogs.

"It's not really new because we already issue dog licenses," said Cedarhurst Administrator Salvatore Evola. "It's just whatever small part the state is doing, they're not going to be doing anymore."

Cedarhurst will discuss the changes at its next meeting on Dec. 6.


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