Animal Care Services requests $2 million more to hire staff, cover medical costs

INDIANAPOLIS (WRTV) — Indianapolis Animal Care Services officials requested an additional $2 million in funding Wednesday during a 2027 budget presentation to an Indianapolis City-County Council committee.

The agency asked for the money to hire more staff and cover medical costs at its new shelter. Director Amanda Dehoney-Hinkle said the facility faces chronic understaffing, which leads to overcrowding and intake emergencies.

“Moving in here has shown us a lot of things that we have to do differently,” Dehoney-Hinkle said. “A lot more needs than what we had at the old shelter, just because of the space and the capacity and how much larger this is.”

Dehoney-Hinkle said the layout of the building opened in May at 5001 E. Raymond St. makes day-to-day operations more difficult than at the previous site at 2600 S. Harding St.

“The way the kennels are laid out here is a lot different,” she said. “Just being able to get the animals out daily, we find that as a big struggle. They do have indoor, outdoor enclosures now, but being able to actually get them out and walk them additional staffing will help us be able to do that.”

The City-County Council is scheduled to vote on the final 2027 budget on Oct. 19.

This story was created from a script aired on Circle City Broadcasting.