MARLIN, Texas (KXXV) — "We know that there is a need for animal control in Marlin," said animal advocate, Dorothy Sanders.
25 News obtained documents from the City of Marlin’s proposed budget worksheet for the upcoming year — one noticeable change is the funding being set aside for animal control building maintenance.
In 2024, $15,000 was set aside for the facility — this year, the city has cut that by more than $10,000, leaving a grand total of only $4,000 left for the building.
"It's very, very disappointing," said another animal advocate, Frances Fischer.
As of July, the City of Marlin has only spent $106 on the animal control in the building.
25 News reached out to animal advocates in the community, who say they don't believe funds are being allocated properly.
"It's very frustrating to find out through open records requests that they only spent $106 all year in 2024 on the building when they had $15,000 in the budget for that," Sanders said.
The current animal shelter has been out of operation for more than eight months — one reason that Marlin residents say more funding is needed.
"If there were draining issues, why didn't they get that fixed, and then why would they decrease the budget even more for 2025 down to $4,000?", Sanders asked.
"It's very frustrating to know that public safety is at risk."
This isn't the first year that the budget has decreased — according to documents from the City of Marlin, the budget was more than $50,000 in 2022, and then dropped to $32,000 in 2023.
This is a pattern many neighbors find concerning, especially with recent allegations of neglect and abuse at the shelter earlier this year.
"Their kennels were 4x4 — there's not even enough room for a dog bed and for the dog to turn around in, much less have any place to sanitarily use the restroom," Sanders said.
This is an issue that animal advocates say they hope City of Marlin leaders are paying attention to.
"They need to get control of it — they need to do something about it rather than nothing," Fischer said.
The City of Marlin Animal Shelter is still under investigation by the Texas Rangers and has not been in operation since January.
