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Agency presents 2026 budget, new shelter plan and staffing updates
Summary
Agency leadership presented the 2026 budget, staffing levels and construction progress on a new shelter that will add dog and cat kennels, with an anticipated construction completion in March 2026 and a planned move-in around May 2026.
James Van Lisonbee, identified in the meeting transcript as the chief financial officer for Bridal Care Services, presented the agency’s proposed 2026 budget and program update during the Oct. 25, 2025 meeting.
Van Lisonbee told the board the agency comprises four divisions including shelter placement, medical and operations. He said the agency was recruiting to fill 16 open vacancies and reported recent improvements in hiring and retention. He described programmatic outcomes and operational metrics, saying foster placements rose 27.5 percent and that the agency’s live-release rate was 91 percent, compared with 84 percent in the prior year.
A major focus of the presentation was a new shelter under construction. Van Lisonbee described facility features including 234 total dog kennels (182 of them indoor/outdoor), 80 cat cages, five separate puppy kennels, 12 outdoor dog runs, indoor play areas, 10 public visitation rooms, a medical suite with isolation areas, a two-acre barn and pasture, two outdoor group play areas, three indoor group play areas and an approximately 2,400-foot walking path. He said construction footage from July showed substantial progress, and staff reported the project was still on track for substantial completion in March 2026 with a tentative move-in around May 2026.
On finances, Van Lisonbee reported the agency’s overall budget declined by $114,000 as part of citywide reductions. He described revenue sources as modest and largely coming from kennel fees, animal identification fees and animal removal fees; he said OFM’s revenue recovery efforts also contribute revenue from collection of older fines and citations. The personnel budget includes a 2.6 percent cost-of-living adjustment for all employees except the director; health insurance and workers’ compensation costs were cited as upward drivers. Van Lisonbee said usable-supplies spending (character 2) was reduced by about $100,000 and that professional services and interagency chargebacks (character 3) rose about $131,000, largely from increased building-authority rent. He said fleet charges fell by about $100,000 while OCC charges increased.
Van Lisonbee described priorities for the coming year as moving into the new shelter, expanding volunteer programming, enhancing data and reporting, and improving efficiency to redirect savings where needed. He also noted a new volunteer coordinator has begun work and is developing standard operating procedures and outreach.
Board members asked no substantive questions during the budget presentation, and no formal action on the 2026 budget was recorded in the meeting minutes or transcript.
A direct quote from the presentation: “Again, my name is James Van Lisonbee, the CFO for Bridal Care Services. And this is the 2026 budget presentation,” Van Lisonbee said at the start of the briefing.
The transcript does not record exact contract line-item details beyond the high-level character-category changes or vote/approval of the budget at this meeting.
