City to renegotiate HSYC rate structure

Following approval of a contract with the Humane Society of Young County in October 2025, the city will now be revising the rate structure as it plans its upcoming fiscal year budget.

HSYC is a nonprofit organization that receives funding from the city of Graham, city of Newcastle, city of Olney and Young County under different contracts for the animal care services. 

The city council provided direction to the city manager Tuesday, Feb. 17 to negotiate any changes to the contract along with a new rate structure of $500 per animal, see how the organization responds and bring that response back to council.

The city’s contract with HSYC is set to expire at the end of the upcoming fiscal year Sept. 30. City Manager Eric Garretty suggested reducing the contribution to HSYC from $47,000 to no more than $32,000 per year.

“Under the current structure, the city’s average annual and annual cost per animal to use HSYC is $734 per animal, which, in my opinion, is excessive,” Garretty said. “Under this proposal, the cost in an average year would be about $500 per animal.”

The city manager suggested if HSYC did not accept the proposal of $500 per animal that the city council should approve a capital project to construct an animal holding facility using an existing facility at Graham Police Department for $30,000.

“The annual recurring cost for the animal holding facility is estimated at $30,000 per year, with the majority of that cost being a part-time employee to assist with care and feeding, as the animals would require care and feeding 365 days a year when we have animals in the facility,” Garretty said.

Council Member Jack Little voiced opposition to this proposal and what it could potentially bring to the city.

“I get cold chills thinking of us running a city-maintained animal shelter. I think we’re setting ourselves up for something, especially when we are hiring part time to take care of these animals,” Little said. “We can’t even fill up a water crew, but we’re going to hire a part time (worker) to take care of animals that are brought into the shelter? It scares me.” 

The city manager said that due to negotiations on the existing contract running into October 2025, he wanted to tackle negotiations with HSYC early.

“If we give you the direction to go to them and actually negotiate a per animal cost not to exceed $500 at this point in time, I think it’s fair for them, it’s fair for us,” Council Member Jeff Dickinson said. “It allows them to then go to the other entities and say, ‘Hey, this is kind of the going rate for the animals we bring in,’ and then they have to fix their budget around that.” 

There was a discrepancy in the amount of animals brought to HSYC as reported by the Animal Control Officer and the shelter during the meeting, with the city manager stating the animal control officer’s numbers were accurate.

“I get that it’s a pet... but legally, it’s property. Under the contract, (ACO) Mike (Watts) has to release control of the property to the humane society. There’s an audit trail on what that is,” Garretty said.

After breakdowns in past negotiations, the city agreed in a 4-1 vote Oct. 7, 2025 to consider a contract with amendments from both sides. The city was considering staying with HSYC or moving to another option for animal care services after reviewing an amended contract from the organization.

Six public speakers came out in support of HSYC during the meeting in October 2025 and were against either building a new facility to house animals or moving them to the city of Jacksboro’s animal facility.

Two options were on the city council agenda in October 2025 to move away from the HSYC, both of which died due to a lack of motion from the council.

The first item was to consider authorizing the city manager to negotiate an interlocal agreement for animal holding services between the city of Graham and the city of Jacksboro. 

The second item was to create a capital project for the initial construction and ongoing operation of an animal holding facility and appropriate $43,000 from the general fund for the project––the amount requested by HSYC in their Sept. 17 contract.

Both the city and Young County were considering alternative options for animal care services last year. HSYC reached out to both the city and Young County regarding raising their funding amounts.

The county and HSYC were operating under a contract which was signed in 2018. 

No revised contract options were presented by the county before they adopted their budget.

The city of Graham had ongoing negotiations with HSYC from June until October, with multiple contracts submitted from both parties before coming to a compromise.