Struggling Saint John SPCA lays off four employees

The Saint John SPCA Animal Rescue group says it has to lay off four employees — three full-time members, and one part-time staff person — for financial reasons.

The shelter will also be operating under limited hours in an effort to conserve costs and keep its doors open.

The shelter's new location at 295 Bayside Dr. carries a steep monthly mortgage payment of $6,500, said Melody McElman, president of the organization's board of directors.

McElman says the SPCAAR is also facing a heating and electricity bill of $3,500 for the month of February.

"We had to make decisions, business decisions, in order to ensure the survival and suitability of the shelter," she said, noting that donations have also dropped since the Christmas holidays.

"We’re going to look within our own organization to see how we can generate sustainable revenue."

Financial moves questioned

The affected staff are represented by the Canadian Union of Public Employees.

Marcos Salib, a union representative, says he questions some of the shelter's financial moves, including its purchase of the $750,000 Bayside property in 2012. Before the cash-strapped group sold one of its surplus buildings to the Joshua Group in September, it had been paying tax on three properties.

"Sometimes you got to make do with what you have," Salib said. "I think that's what they perhaps got to explore, is a much less expensive location than they have right now."

As part of its reduction in hours, the shelter will be closed to the public from Sunday to Wednesday for the next six weeks.

The SPCA is supported entirely by the donations of volunteers and members.

It also has an $80,000-per-year contract with the city of Saint John that sees the group handling dog control and emergency services for cats that are injured or near death.

Under the contract, the SPCA keeps the money it collects from dog licences, expected to be between $5,000 and $10,000 annually.

In September, council was told if every dog in the city was licensed it would generate an estimated $170,000 a year, but the city lacks the authority to enforce the rule.

The animal shelter has been in trouble since the city slashed its funding in half last March.