Get ready to pay a little more to add a furry friend to your home. Fees at Maricopa County Animal Care and Control are going up.
Licensing fees are going up from $17 to $21 starting June 1st. This goes for every dog owner across the county.
And it turns out the type of dog you want may end up costing you a little bit more. Now the shelter will be able to charge up to $300 for what they call a "shelter superhero" or a puppy.
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"Superhero" dogs are ones are chosen by the adoption team, which may be a high demand dog or even a purebred.
MCACC officials say that high adoption rate will help pay and care for the other animals left behind in the shelter.
The needs of the shelter are growing. MCACC officials addressed the board of supervisors about those needs earlier this month.
ABC15 spoke with Jose Santiago with MCACC who says the money from the increased fees will help save dogs' lives.
Santiago says, "It's $31 a day per animal to house and feed them. So when you adopt an animal at that $300 rate, not only are you saving that animal's life, you're saving the lives of nine other animals that still remain in the facility. We need that money to go ahead and feed them and get them medication if they require it."
There will be another $1 increase after the initial hike. That increase will go into effect in June of 2019.
