Deer Culling Cost City More than $600 Per Deer
The summary report from the 2012 deer management program in Solon presents a bunch of data, including costs, number of deer killed and more.
Each deer killed last winter during Solon's sharpshooting program cost the city taxpayers more than $611.
In total, the sharpshooting program managed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture cost the city $183,353, according to a summary report of the program produced by David Hromco, a former Solon official who managed the program on a part-time basis.
Sharpshooters from the USDA culled 300 deer between January 30 and March 19. They shot using rifles with from stationary areas at secluded city-owned and some private properties.
The goal of the program was to slash Solon's deer population to reduce car wrecks caused by deer. Solon officials have said Solon has more deer than the city's geography can handle. The program is controversial, as many residents tried to stop the city from being able to hunt deer.
In the report, Hromco says that the city has traditionally calculated average cost per deer using only outside costs for sharpshooting and meat processing. Using that rubric, the program cost the city about $408 per deer. That's in line with how much past sharpshooting efforts have cost Solon.
But the city spent an additional $61,100 on the program beyond fees for the sharpshooting and processing, which brings the real cost to $611 per deer.
Hromco said in the report he believes there were some additional costs due to the program being new.
"As expected there was a learning curve that took up some time and resources during the program," he writes. "This did result in some additional cost which we would not expect in future programs."
Here's a breakdown of the program's costs:
| USDA cost | $103,000 |
| Meat transportation and processing | $19,253 |
| Police overtime fees | $40,547 |
| City personnel overtime for site monitoring and baiting | $8,602 |
| Direct city costs for bait, site work and administration | $11,951 |
| TOTAL COST | $183,353 |
| COST PER DEER (300 Deer culled) | $611.18 |
Editor's Note: We'll have more stories on the review of Solon's deer culling program this week. Sign up for our free daily e-mail newsletter to see the stories first thing in the morning.
Heinz Knall
7:48 am on Tuesday, August 28, 2012
Learning curve? Everyone involved has done this before. Mr Hromco was hired by the City specifically because of his experience in running this program. All the expenses listed have been there for prior culling activities, albeit not always mentioned when reporting the program costs to the public. This brings the total amount of money spent by the City on culling to nearly one million dollars. Even if you don't have a problem with killing hundreds of deer, the taxpayers should be a little upset about being "Tom Sawyered" into picking up the tab on cleaning up the ODNR's mess. And, they'll probably do it again this Winter because despite the learning curve, nothing has been learned.
Mark C
7:27 pm on Tuesday, August 28, 2012
The direct beneficiaries of this deer culling program are the auto insurance companies. Think about it.
Garry Brandenburg
9:03 pm on Tuesday, August 28, 2012
Many cities in IOWA have an urban deer hunt restricted to archers. It has worked well for over 20 years in many places.....and get this, at NO COST to the cities. Hunters buy special urban deer tags with their money. Novel thing to do, I'd say. The hunter may keep the venison and eat it, or donate it a local food bank. Common sense one, tree huggers zero.
Rich
3:17 pm on Wednesday, August 29, 2012
Brilliant ! This whole sham started with bow hunting and it will end up with bow hunting ;just as ODNR wanted. The "Urban Hunting" program puts the loot in their coffers and thats what this is really about. They could care less about safety. If they did , you'd see a lot more Streiter lights which are proven effective and can even be had at little cost through NOACA. Why didn't council even consider this ? , No, instead they all line up to bring in the goons from Wildlife Services who have a bad rep a mile long. Apparently Solon likes to blow large wads of cash on pointless programs.
Lisa Fields
7:23 am on Wednesday, August 29, 2012
The stink of corruption and lies coming from Solon city hall is staggering. They continue to be shills for the hunting lobby. This has ALWAYS been about getting hunting started in suburbs. Period. Scott Peters, with ODNR has gone from city to city holding Solon up as an example of why hunting is the only way. He said, Solon has spent thousands of dollars on sharpshooters and eventually they will run out of money and ultimately the best long-term solution is hunting. Residents need to know that their tax dollars are being squandered twice. On a city level and a federal level. USDA Wildlife Services, the government killing agency spent nearly one billion to slaughter nearly 23 millionanimals between 2004-2010, using aerial guns, poisons, traps, snares and hounds. They were sued for using an 18 yr old environmental document to conduct its wildlife eradication programs in violation of federal law. This killing agency spent 126 million in 2010 ti kill 5,008,928 animals. This is who Solon has brought to their backyards. Thanks to this administration Solon is the butt of jokes and their reputation is in the toilet. This is a slaughter, not a solution. Make no mistakes about it. Kick this clowncil and mayor out and get some responsible people in office. It's the only way to stop the continued insanity.