Finney County commissioners on Monday said no to the city's request for additional funding for a proposed new animal shelter.

County commissioners took no official action Monday on two options: the county chipping in more money in the county's partnership with the city to help fund a new animal shelter, and/or providing additional help through work and equipment through Finney County Public Works.

About a week ago, the county commission held its budget workshop in which commissioners proposed about a half-mill increase to taxpayers and mostly went down the line when cutting 4 percent from the 2008 budgets of outside agencies partly funded by the county to determine the 2009 funding for the agencies.

The issue of whether to proceed with constructing the shelter, and to what extent, comes back before city commissioners today.

County Commissioner Roman Halbur cited the county's budget cuts on Monday, telling City Manager Matt Allen that the county commission cut from programs and services that deal with children and child development, and now the city's "wanting us to spend more money on dogs."

That's something Halbur said he wasn't willing to do, especially with tough economic times and several projects, including Sunflower Electric Power Corp.'s proposed expansion and the recruitment of cheese manufacturer Leprino Foods, not taking off. Halbur said he isn't in favor of supporting anything that requires additional funding from the county for the shelter.

Commissioner Don Doll said he doesn't think there is anything extra to spare.

Commissioner Larry Jones said he might be willing to budge on allowing County Public Works to help with the project as far as doing certain work, but he wasn't in favor of giving additional money to the project. Jones added that stance seems to be the sentiment of taxpayers he has heard from.

Commissioner Cliff Mayo said he feels the project should not move forward at this time with the poor state the economy is in right now. He said the city commission needed to be realistic about the state of the economy and whether to proceed with the project at this time, saying, "they've got to turn this down for the time being."

Allen said he came before the county commission again after having a more finalized cost for the project. According to the city, finalized costs that project contractor Mid-America Millwright Service Inc. gathered include $714,769.45 to construct the shelter, not counting design fees of about $30,000, dirt work and $128,104 for pet kennels. The estimate is about 26.8 percent more than the initial estimate of $563,667 that Mid-America gave early on in determining what it would take to build the shelter.

Both of the figures are more than the $500,000 originally agreed to by the county and city to split in half to build the shelter. The county would cover $250,000 of the cost, paying $25,000 a year for 10 years.

City commissioners agreed in principle to cover additional costs beyond the $500,000 up to $700,000 for the shelter, but still held out hope that the county would help with the additional cost.

Through Allen, the city requested the county increase its contribution by splitting the additional costs up to $700,000, and contributing to the project through labor and equipment from County Public Works.

Monday's request came a day before today's city commission meeting where commissioners will consider whether to proceed with the shelter, and if so, what the scope of the project will be.

Through cost reductions identified by city staff but still under consideration, such as not finishing some of the shelter's rooms and the city doing some of the exterior concrete work, the city is proposing it can get the project down to an estimated $698,968.95, compared to an $842,873.45 figure that includes the shelter and kennels.

"You're still $200,000 over," Mayo told Allen.

Garden City Commissioner Reynaldo Mesa said after Monday's county meeting that the city would take whatever the county feels it can offer to the project. While the cost has increased and "the timing's not the best," he said, he still feels the city should move forward with the project. As the community grows, animal control issues will continue to grow as well, he said.

But, Mesa said, the project might not happen all at once.

"If it's in phases, so be it," Mesa said.

While county commissioners weren't in favor of additional funding for the project, they did approve rescinding the $375 fee the Finney County Humane Society and others partnering with the organization paid to rent the Exhibition Building in October to hold a Pet Expo.

Proceeds from the event will go toward raising money for the shelter, according to Nancy Garhart, with the Humane Society.

"She's asking for something we've done for others," Mayo said.

County Administrator Pete Olson asked Garhart if the Humane Society would still hold the Pet Expo if the city decides not to move forward with the shelter.

Garhart said she didn't feel it made sense to continue with the event if that happened. She also told the commission she didn't think it was feasible for the Humane Society to take on the entire effort of raising funding and constructing a new shelter if the city decides to drop the project.

Jones, Mayo and County Commissioner Bob Baker approved rescinding the fee, with Halbur and Doll opposing the move.

Halbur, in explaining his stance, said he considered rescinding the fee as providing additional funding toward the shelter.

Both Mayo and Jones said they recognized the efforts by the Humane Society in trying to help with the shelter. A previous comment had been made by Doll about the Humane Society being lazy, not helping enough in covering the cost of the shelter.

Mayo said the Humane Society's recent efforts are in contrast to that comment.

Garhart said commissioners' move to rescind the fee shows the county's support of the project.