Dog fees take effect

Dogs may already be sporting colorful Fleet Peeples dog park tags, but the fee and tagging program officially goes into effect Jan. 1.

If owners don’t have their dogs vaccinated, certified and tagged by that date, they can’t enter the park without fear of fines from the city.

The fees are $75 for the first dog and a $50 fee for all additional dogs in a household.

Permits and $5 daily passes can be purchased at City Hall, Azalea Lane Recreation Center, Winter Park Country Club and the Rachel D. Murrah Civic Center.

The Commission voted in October to create the fees, making the city’s dog park the first in Central Florida to charge dog owners to use it.

Supporters of the fees had noted that they would help pay for park rangers to monitor the park and check for vaccinations to improve safety.

“It’s going to offset some of the maintenance and repair,” Commissioner Phil Anderson said.

Mayor Ken Bradley has opposed the fees since the idea was first introduced.

“This is a slap in the [taxpayers’] face,” Bradley said, noting that taxpayers who are charged a fee for the park would effectively be taxed twice.

The park rangers who the fees will help to pay for will essentially act as code enforcement officers, working for that department, Winter Park Communications Director Clarissa Howard said.

The two positions have been filled, but the rangers are still in training. They’ll be on the job by Jan. 1, mostly acting in an informational capacity in the first month. They’ll give verbal warnings to owners of unregistered dogs.

After January, fines will be imposed on violators, but that has yet to be determined by the Commission. Beyond that, violators could receive even more punishment.

“If it’s continual, they may stop them from coming to the park,” Howard said.