BELLMEAD, Texas (KXXV) — Bellmead is parting ways with Waco's Pet Circle animal shelter at the end of August, opting for a new service that city officials say will save them more than $135,000 each year.
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The city has approved a new agreement with Texas Animal Control Solutions (TACS), which will provide animal sheltering services for $500 per animal surrendered – approximately $400 less than what Pet Circle charges.
"We have a full-service shelter here, a regional shelter we contract with McLennan County and neighboring cities to provide animal sheltering services," said Waco's Chief of Staff Ashley Nystrom.
For the past 12 years, neighboring cities like Bellmead have utilized Waco's shelter services through Pet Circle, which provides comprehensive care including veterinary and boarding services.
When 25 News asked why neighboring cities use Waco's service instead of operating their own shelters, Nystrom explained the challenges involved.
"It is not easy to run an animal shelter. It takes up a lot of space, a lot of staffing. It's a 7 day a week, 365 day a year operation," Nystrom said.
Pet Circle's budget exceeds $3.3 million for the upcoming year. Waco calculates each city's share based on the number of animals brought in by their animal control officers the previous year, as well as over-the-counter surrenders from residents.
According to Pet Circle, the average cost per intake is about $900 per animal, which led to Bellmead's decision to terminate its contract. However, over-the-counter surrenders are not shown in this allocation table from the city of Waco.
According to Pet Circle, Bellmead brought in 106 animals by animal control officers during the billing period used to calculate the FY26 share; this was 5% of all animals brought in by all jurisdiction ACOs. They also accept over-the-counter surrenders by residents of our customer jurisdictions. Bellmead residents brought in 97 animals over the counter during the same period, so Bellmead’s total jurisdiction intake was 203 animals, which was still about 5% of total animal intake.
"Starting at the end of August on August 31st, we won't have a contract with Bellmead as a jurisdiction, so we won't be taking animals from either their animal control officer or from residents of Bellmead bringing animals in," Nystrom said.
While the new arrangement with TACS will save Bellmead significant money with a total annual cost of just over $58,000, it's worth noting that TACS operates out of Denton, Texas – considerably farther away than the Waco facility.
Bellmead officials say they will have new standard operating procedures and transition plans in place by next month, when the Pet Circle contract ends on August 31.
Below is the city of Bellmead's full statement about the depature:
"We have certainly appreciated Waco Shelter for years. We have had to make some extremely difficult decisions this year during our budget process. Switching to a new animal control service for housing animals has been one of them. The Chief and I are in the process of developing final procedures for Citizens who need to surrender an animal, which we hope to have this week. The City will continue to provide Exemplary animal control services as it always has for many years."
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