The Boone County Fiscal Court recently debated the relevance of a mandatory dog licensing fee that has been in place since the 90s.
In 1995, the Boone County Fiscal Court passed ordinance 91.17, which requires dog owners to pay a $15 licensing fee to Boone County Animal Services and register their dog with animal control.
In 2003, the state’s general assembly amended KRS 258.135 to allow each county or municipality to establish its own licensing program. Until 2004, dog licensing was mandatory in Kentucky. However, Boone County’s ordinance contains language that requires licensure to be mandatory.
“Licensing was originally established as a means of offsetting the cost of animal control services,” Boone County Animal Care & Control Director Colleen Bray said. “Animal control services are a statutory requirement for all counties in Kentucky.”
During a fiscal court meeting on April 8, the court debated whether the fee is necessary, with commissioner Chet Hand advocating for its repeal. Hand said he believes the registration fee is unnecessary, citing a low compliance rate among residents. According to Hand, less than 15% of residents pay the annual fee. He first raised the issue during a March 11 meeting.
Currently, all Northern Kentucky counties require dog licensing, including Kenton and Campbell counties.
Boone County’s licensing fee structure charges $15 for dogs that haven’t been spayed or neutered, $9 for dogs that have been spayed or neutered, and $5 for dogs owned by senior citizens aged 65 or older. The licenses expire on Jan. 31 of each year.
Bray said Boone County has generated approximately $21,602 during the current 2024-2025 Fiscal Year, which concludes at the end of June. Typically, the county generates around $28,000 in annual sales from the fee. The largest fee collection cohort is altered dog owners. So far, the county has issued over 2,000 licenses in 2025.
Another purpose of the fee is to allow Boone County Animal Control to add a dog’s licensing information to a countywide registry. This way, if a dog is separated from its owner and picked up by animal control, the dog is returned home instead of being impounded.
Each city in Boone County—Florence, Union and Walton—has ordinances that require dogs to be registered with the county.
Bray presented a list of pros and cons compiled by her department, which cited the licensing fee’s low compliance rate and time-consuming nature as potential positives of a potential repeal.
On the other hand, Bray said the practice helps ensure the dog’s rabies vaccinations are up to date, helps with owner reunification, ensures ownership information is current, and keeps Boone County’s practices consistent with the rest of Northern Kentucky.
“The pros and cons of having dog licensing is unrelated to the mandatory nature of it,” Hand responded. “So if we had a voluntary program of licensing, all of the benefits to your officers and to reunification and all those things would still exist.”
Boone County Administrator Matthew Webster suggested amending the original ordinance, rather than repealing it, altering the language so the licensing fee would become voluntary as opposed to mandatory.
“We could certainly look at a program to encourage voluntary licensure,” he said.
After more discussion, Webster said that the Boone County administrative staff will draft an amended ordinance to present before the court in the coming weeks. The amended ordinance would require a first and second reading from the court.
