Columbia Borough Council restores partial funding to cat program after community pushback

STAFF | COLUMBIA SPY

Columbia Borough Council faced criticism from residents and animal welfare advocates at its October 16 budget meeting over proposed cuts to a popular trap-neuter-vaccinate-return (TNVR) program for feral cats.

Council had initially reduced its donation to CCAT from $3,000 to $1,000 for 2026 — a decision that drew criticism, given the borough's proposed $9 million budget.

Controversy also arose from comments made by council members at an October 7 work session about controlling the borough's cat population, including a suggestion by Councilman Todd Burgard to use "extermination" as a control method.

Waltemire: "None of us in this room have a right to exterminate a living being." 

Dr. Nikki Waltemire, veterinarian at Columbia Animal Shelter, rebutted Burgard's remarks during public comment. "None of us in this room have a right to exterminate a living being," Waltemire said, calling "extermination" an extremely strong word. She distinguished between extermination and euthanasia, explaining that euthanasia is used to end the suffering of animals in pain.

Several others defended the Columbia Cat Action Team's TNVR program and urged council to maintain funding. The program has sterilized and vaccinated approximately 500 cats to date. (In 2022, Columbia Borough had an estimated 1,000 feral cats.)

Madaras: "Our taxes are raised. Our money is mismanaged, yet you dare to even think about cutting funding for such a wonderful program..."

CCAT volunteer Jennifer Madaras criticized the proposed cuts. "Our taxes are raised. Our money is mismanaged, yet you dare to even think about cutting funding for such a wonderful program and a wonderful cause to this community is absolutely disheartening," she said.

Tammy Jalbert, executive director of the Columbia Animal Shelter, expressed disappointment with council's comments on the issue. "Some of the remarks shared, particularly those suggesting inhumane and lethal methods of cat control, were disappointing and unacceptable coming from community leaders," Jalbert said. She noted it was "especially disheartening" to hear such comments from a councilor [Burgard] who was a founding member of CCAT and had previously supported the program publicly.

Ross: “We are effective and we are efficient."

Liz Ross, chair of CCAT, emphasized the program's effectiveness, noting that CCAT tracks its results annually from early October to late September.

McKonly: “I just want to say now I'm here to support the action team, to say for a bunch of volunteers how good of a job they do."

Mike McKonly, president of the Columbia Animal Shelter, praised the volunteers' work, calling them "awesome" and noting they perform a "thankless job."

Resident Frank Doutrich suggested that council take a second look at funding CCAT. “I don't know where these people are coming from when they want to take the money away from the program,” Doutrich said. “I just wish you would relook at that funding.”

Sharon Lintner, a founding member of CCAT, reminded council of other positive aspects of the program. "Don't forget how much is good publicity, because this program got a lot of media attention on TV and newspaper articles and the Merchandiser," Lintner said. "Other municipalities were coming to us, asking, how do you get this started?"

During budget discussions, council candidate Jesse Rabinowitz advocated for maintaining the reduced $1,000 donation. However, after council discovered an unassigned $1,500 in the budget, Heather Zink, council president, decided to allocate it to CCAT, bringing the total donation to $2,500 for 2026.