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HARLINGEN — For years, residents have been calling on City Hall to help them spay and neuter their dogs and cats.

Now, a state grant is helping officials launch a one-year, low-cost program aimed at controlling Harlingen’s stray population.

With its $9,000 grant, the Texas Health Department is stipulating the money go to help low-income residents spay and neuter their dogs and cats, Assistant City Manager Josh Ramirez said Thursday.

“We’re excited to extend these services to pets in our community,” Mayor Norma Sepulveda said, adding the program opens Oct. 1. “While funding is limited, my goal is to use this as a pilot program and work toward making it a permanent service for Harlingen families.”

At City Hall, officials are planning to expand the program, offering services to more residents, Ramirez said.

“It’s going to give us the opportunity to demonstrate and quantify the huge need for spay and neuter in Harlingen, which will allow us to qualify for additional grants,” he said.

Officials are trying to curb a stray population that’s threatening residents, Ramirez said.

“We have a problem and we see it everywhere — we are constantly catching animals,” he said. “People are always calling us about stray dogs and cats. We’ve had citizens reporting packs of dogs. We want our citizens to walk down the street comfortably with baby strollers.”

Under the new program, officials are planning to charge low-income residents $40 to spay and neuter cats and $50 for dogs, far lower than veterinarian fees running between $180 to $250, Ramirez said.

Under its guidelines, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development classifies low-income individuals as making $16,700 to $44,450 while families of four making $33,150 to $63,500 fall under the category.

During a meeting Wednesday, city commissioners entered into a contract with veterinarian Shelly Mitchell to provide spaying and neutering services while the city covers its costs.

For residents requesting neutering services for male dogs, the city’s costs will range from $142 to $196, depending on the dog’s weight, a program chart shows.

For female dogs, the city’s costs to cover spaying services will range from $162 to $236, depending on weight.

Meanwhile, the cost of neutering male cats is set at $86, with the cost of spaying female cats at $142, the chart shows.

A year ago, the city’s new animal shelter launched a program offering spaying and neutering services for sheltered dogs and cats which residents pick for adoption.

To fund the program, the Harlingen Community Improvement Board put up $200,000.

Now, about $90,000 remains, Ramirez said.

As part of the program, officials are contracting with Arroyo Veterinary Hospital to offer spaying and neutering services for the shelter’s dogs and cats which residents pick out for adoption, while the city’s covering costs similar to those Mitchell is charging under the new program, he said.

While the shelter’s charging residents $58 to adopt dogs, officials set fees for cats at $46, planning to release the animals after tests, vaccines and microchipping.

For residents taking animals to the shelter, officials are charging $20 for dogs and cats while boosting fees to $40 for litters.

At the shelter, officials are also working with residents offering dogs and cats foster homes, Ramirez said.

In January 2024, the city opened the animal shelter after officials terminated the Rio Grande Valley Humane Society’s $400,000 annual contract, claiming the “no-kill” agency breached its agreement when it refused to take in residents’ pets along with some animal control officers’ intake requests.

To launch the program, commissioners pulled $365,937 from the city’s general fund budget to cover the shelter’s payroll, with Shannon Harvill, the city’s environmental health director, overseeing the operation.

Since 1988, the Humane Society, under its former name, the Harlingen Humane Society, had operated the city-owned shelter.

At City Hall, officials are working on landing grants to help fund construction of a new animal shelter.

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