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Clear Creek and Gilpin ask staff to map costs and options for Charlie’s Place animal shelter
Summary
County leaders ordered a joint review of Charlie’s Place after staff reported shelter costs rose to about $77,808 in 2026 and an estimated $3,383 per animal; commissioners asked staff to produce cost-per-day metrics, staffing and volunteer breakdowns and alternatives before the IGA expires.
Clear Creek and Gilpin county commissioners directed staff to produce a detailed business-plan-style analysis of Charlie’s Place shelter operations after being told recent staffing and benefit-cost increases pushed the facility’s budget higher.
Ray Reers, Gilpin County manager, told the joint meeting the shelter’s costs rose from $42,008.71 in 2023 to about $77,808 projected for 2026 and that the 2026 cost-per-animal estimate is “$3,383.” That figure and the year-over-year jump—about 29% from 2025 to 2026—prompted questions from Gilpin commissioners about whether the current intergovernmental agreement is the most cost-effective option for their county.
Commissioners from both counties focused discussion on how to measure and allocate costs. Several officials said impound days (length of stay) are a better metric than raw impound counts because many out-of-county dogs are transferred directly to adopters or fosters and do not incur shelter-day costs. County staff and Charlie’s Place representatives also said the shelter relies heavily on volunteers and “in-kind” support—reported in the packet at roughly $30,000 in volunteer time and partner contributions—but that volunteer labor cannot reliably replace paid staffing.
Board members directed Colton (county manager) and Gilpin staff to work together with Charlie’s Place to: clean and convert paper records into comparable metrics, calculate cost-per-dog and cost-per-cat per day, quantify the marginal cost of additional animals, and test alternatives (including different cost-allocation models and possible revenue-generating activities). Ray Reers and Clear Creek staff said they would aim to return findings and suggested a joint follow-up meeting in midsummer.
Officials emphasized they were not questioning the quality of care. “Charlie’s Place is kind of a gold standard in terms of animal shelters,” one Clear Creek commissioner said, while noting that historical outside funding has declined and operations must be made sustainable.
Next steps: staff will assemble the requested cost breakdowns, volunteer-hour detail and impound-day metrics and report back to both boards so they can consider whether the current IGA remains the best option.
