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The Georgetown Animal Shelter is on track to merge with the Williamson County Regional Animal Shelter this summer.
The setup
At an April 8 Georgetown City Council meeting, officials approved an interlocal agreement with Round Rock, Cedar Park, Leander and Hutto—the WCRAS' current member cities—as its first step in the merger.
The four cities are set to take action on approving the interlocal agreement by late April, and Williamson County Commissioners will likely take action May 6.
If all required parties approve the agreement through the proposed timeline, the merger would take effect July 5, per city documents.
How we got here
The Georgetown Animal Shelter originally opened in 2005 and consistently holds more animals than it was intended to.
Discussions of merging the Georgetown Animal Shelter with the WCRAS first started in May 2022, said Jack Daly, chief business officer for Georgetown Electric Utility.
“We were like, ‘we can definitely do this in 180 days,’" Daly said at the council meeting. “Here we are, three years later.”
In those three years, Georgetown voters approved a $15 million bond proposition in November 2023. The funding will be used for a WCRAS expansion, pending the merger approval.
However, the bond is written in a way that would allow Georgetown officials to expand its existing shelter if the merger is not approved, according to previous Community Impact reporting.
Additionally, WCRAS member cities approved a memorandum of understanding and an interlocal agreement draft for the merger in May 2024.
By March 24, Attorney General Ken Paxton reviewed and approved the interlocal agreement with minor changes made.
By the numbers
Georgetown would fund Phase 1 of the WCRAS expansion, which could continue past 2035. A 2023 study found that the expansion should address dog capacity needs through 2035 by adding at least 106 dog kennels.
The proposed WCRAS expansion also includes:
Quote of note
District 1 council member Amanda Parr serves on the animal shelter board and thanked staff for their work on the merger. Parr encouraged Georgetown volunteers to consider volunteering at the WCRAS.
"This is all about supporting animals and supporting staff," Parr said. "Both shelters have been completely full—I think remain full—and so they're going to need all your help."
One more thing
While Georgetown officials await final approval, county and city staff will begin drafting documents to solicit architecture and engineering services to construct the expansion as quickly as possible, according to city documents.
