Susan Enz is with Village Oak Veterinary Hospital. She told supervisors the county clinic will compete unfairly with her business.
“The clinic will be subsidized with taxpayer money to provide a service that is currently being provided by the private sector. Perhaps if I had free rent, utilities and other such help I could charge less for my services.”
But County Supervisor Dick Monteith said the bigger issue is trying to solve a pet over-population problem.
“I don’t look at it as a competitive situation. I look at it as a collaborative method of addressing and resolving our animal problem.”
Stanislaus County spent nearly $2 million in the last fiscal year destroying more than 14,000 animals. The new clinic will offer reduced spay-neuter fees to low-income residents.