Permanent Dog Tag and Multiyear License

About the Program

Category: Financial Management (Best in Category)

Year: 2013

The Virginia General Assembly enacted a code change to §3.1796.87:1 of the Code of Virginia in 2007 that mandated veterinarians report rabies vaccines to local jurisdictions. This change inundated Treasury staff charged with entering the rabies data generated by veterinary clinics vaccinating and licensing dogs. The outdated license and renewal process became even more cumbersome when workloads increased and interfered with semi annual personal property and real estate tax collection deadlines. Due to the increase in annual renewals and volume of dogs having to be licensed, hiring additional staff became a necessity to ensure dog licenses were processed in a timely manner.Working with the County Attorney’s Office, Information Technology (IT) and Animal Control, code changes were established in support of a permanent tag and multiyear license. Tags are now valid for the life of the dog and the multiyear license runs concurrent with the rabies expiration date. Mailing renewals throughout the year balances the internal workload and saves the County personnel costs. Additional savings are reflected in postage, paper, envelopes and the elimination of wastage of unused dated dog tags. Citizens’ benefit by only needing to remember one date for both license and rabies vaccinations, saving time and money, and without the necessity of purchasing a new tag annually.