BRENHAM ANIMAL SERVICES RECEIVES $20,000 DONATION TO EXPAND SPAY/NEUTER PROGRAM TO COUNTY RESIDENTS

  

Brenham Animal Services is now able to offer low-cost spay and neuter services to Washington County pet owners, thanks to a donation from a local resident.

During Thursday’s Brenham City Council meeting, Carol Collins presented the city with a check for $20,000 to establish a spay/neuter fund for county residents.  The program, administered through Brenham Animal Services, will provide vouchers to cover the cost of spay/neuter surgery, a rabies vaccine, an e-collar and pain medication for qualifying pets in the county.  

Collins, who volunteers at the shelter, called the accomplishments of the Brenham Animal Services team “extraordinary” and said she hopes this donation can help address a great need.

Collins commended the leadership of Animal Services Manager Megan Gray, Animal Services Specialist Morgan Patton, and Brenham City Secretary and Administrative Services Director Jeana Bellinger.  She said their work has allowed the shelter to earn designation as a no-kill shelter by Best Friends Animal Society, save money on animal procedures through the internal hiring of a veterinarian, and engage with the community through numerous initiatives like the Doggy Day Out program, the Trap-Neuter-Release program for community cats, microchip clinics and adoption events.

Collins said her donation was driven in part by the county’s choice to not contribute up to this point to the city’s spay/neuter program, despite a majority of the animals coming into the shelter being from the county.  City officials met with county commissioners last summer to request financial assistance with the program, but the county has not taken any action.  She called on commissioners to find ways to free up money for that purpose and specifically suggested the EMS Department as an area to look into, pointing to the high salaries possessed by some department officials.

To participate in the program, residents must live in Washington County and have their pet with them at the time of submitting an application.  The pet must be 4 months to 10 years old and weigh between 4 – 100 lbs.  The owner must agree to a free microchip and weigh-in and is required to pay a $25, non-refundable deposit.

Funding is limited and is available on a first-come, first-served basis.  To apply, residents can visit Brenham Animal Services at 1804 Longwood Drive or call 979-337-7351.

The full statement from Collins shared with the city council on Thursday can be read below:

Mayor and City Council,

Thank you for the opportunity to speak today.  My name is Carol Collins. I have been a full-time resident of Washington County since 1995, and a full-time resident within the City of Brenham since 2022. 

In November of 2025, a KWHI article stated that the Brenham Pet Adoption Center had been designated by Best Friends Animal Society as a “no-kill” shelter, meaning a 95% or better “save” rate for all animals entering the facility.  This is a remarkable accomplishment for any shelter. It inspired me to learn more about the improvements made by Brenham Animal Services in recent years. 

In February 2023, oversight of Brenham Animal Services shifted from the Police Department to City Secretary Jeana Bellinger, who became Director over Animal Services. Megan Gray was hired as Animal Services Manager, and Morgan Patton as Animal Services Specialist. The accomplishments of this team and their staff since then have been extraordinary. They include:

• Expanded open hours to better serve citizens
• Monthly advertising with KWHI & quarterly with Banner Press  
• A reorganized website with updated program information
• New shelter software to streamline intakes and outcomes
• Out-of-state rescue transports for dogs
• Cats consistently available for adoption at PetSmart
• Online volunteer tracking and communication system
• Hiring an internal veterinarian, saving approximately $200,000 annually
• In-house spay/neuter surgeries, heartworm treatments, rabies vaccines, health certificates, elective procedures
• $10 microchipping for citizen pets
• 24/7 on-call Animal Control within city limits
• Field microchipping for return-to-owner pets
• $25 low-cost spay/neuter program for city residents (includes microchip and rabies vaccine)
• Permanent trap-neuter-release program for cats at no charge to city residents
• Doggy Day Out program and daily dog playgroups
• Internal staff manual
• Adoption updates every month
• Drive-thru rabies, microchip, and spay/neuter clinics
• No-Kill designation by Best Friends Animal Society
• Transparent reporting of operations and statistics
• Staff outings to support morale
• Posting adoptable animals on Petfinder and Adopt-A-Pet
• Reestablishing and maintaining the Animal Services advisory board

After seeing these improvements firsthand, meeting Megan and Morgan, and touring the facility, I began volunteering. Their dedication and accomplishments inspired me to make a significant monetary donation to support their work. 

One of the greatest unmet needs is spay/neuter assistance for Washington County residents who live outside the City.  More than half of the animals entering the shelter come from County-not City-residents. The ongoing failure to spay and neuter pets leads to roaming animals, unwanted litters, and ultimately more animals surrendered to the City shelter.  While irresponsible ownership is the root cause, providing free or low-cost spay/neuter services would encourage responsible choices and help reduce the number of unwanted animals.    

In 2025, the City budgeted $10,000 for spay/neuter assistance for City residents.  Jeana Bellinger met with County Commissioners in April and June of 2025 to request that the County match-or at least partially match-this amount for County residents.  To date, there has been no response.

Because of this, I have chosen to donate $20,000 to establish a spay/neuter fund specifically for County residents, to be administered by Megan and the Brenham Animal Services team.  I am grateful to be able to contribute, and I pray these funds will bring meaningful and lasting progress in addressing the growing animal overpopulation crisis.  I trust this team to administer the funds responsibly and compassionately.  I also pray that County residents will take advantage of this opportunity to be responsible pet owners.  There is now no excuse to leave animals intact and contributing to the cycle of unwanted litters.  As Proverbs 12:10 reminds us: “The righteous care for the needs of their animals.”

I also challenge the County to begin contributing funds toward this ongoing need.  I urge them to review their 168-page, $48 million 2026 budget and examine areas of waste or excess.  As a CPA and business owner, my brief review revealed multiple areas of concern that warrant scrutiny by both County and City officials.  These expenditures affect all of us!

I did not set out to uncover troubling issues-I was simply searching for $5000-$10,000 that the County might allocate toward spay/neuter assistance.  Instead, I found what appears to be significant waste in multiple areas.  I implore both the County and the City to investigate these expenditures thoroughly.

One example is the EMS department, which has a 2026 budget of $7.2 million, along with an additional $4.4 million for EMS aviation services. Of the County’s over 400 employees, 27 of the 40 highest paid work in EMS. In 2025, EMS Director Kevin Deramus and two paramedics, Justin Knuppel and Taylor Leonard, were the three highest paid employees in the entire County, with compensation of $189,050, $191,093 and $189,379 respectively.

A department director is typically an exempt, salaried administrative employee not entitled to overtime under the Fair Labor Standards Act. Mr. Deramus’ salary for 2025 was $95,707. But he was also paid overtime and holiday pay of $50,673, aviation supplement of $28,000, longevity pay of $3,120, and a stipend of $11,550, totaling $189,050. And this does not include county-paid benefits such as health insurance. Mr. Knuppel was also salaried but received multiple similar supplemental payments.

Mr. Leonard was an hourly employee. In July and August alone, he logged 390 hours of overtime-averaging 45 overtime hours per week-and earned $16,064 in overtime pay for those two months. This level of overtime is excessive, unsustainable, and indicative of poor management.  With 27 of the County’s highest-paid employees coming from EMS, and 21 EMS employees each making significantly more than $100,000 in 2025, resulting from excessive overtime pay, these issues clearly extend beyond just three individuals.

I want to publicly thank Commissioner Kirk Hanath for taking the time, with only 24 hours notice, to research several of my questions and provide explanations. He was very transparent, caring and knowledgeable, and I am grateful that Judge Durrenberger asked him, and he graciously agreed, to continue in his position until Chad Dismukes was ready to take over the commissioner position.  He clarified that: (1) The $11,550 stipend paid to Mr. Deramus covered his participation in Texas Task Force boat training, even while he continued receiving his full County salary during this time. (2) The $28,000 aviation supplement Mr. Deramus received was additional compensation for overseeing the aviation program, again on top of his full EMS Director salary. (3) The $50,673 in “overtime pay” that Mr. Deramus received was reportedly pay for deployment to other areas for Texas Task Force assistance, while he continued receiving his full EMS Director salary from the County. Mr. Leonard was, just in the past few weeks, chosen to succeed Mr. Deramus as EMS Director. He was selected from internal interviews of only three employees, one of whom was not even interested in the position.  There were no applications taken or interviews done with anyone outside the department, per Commissioner Hanath.

With this information, it is evident that the EMS department has positioned itself to secure substantial additional compensation for itself through its continued involvement with Texas Task Force, the aviation program, and related activities. They have also done an effective job generating public praise for these efforts.  However, the primary responsibility of the EMS Director should be ensuring the best cost-benefit outcomes for the taxpayers of Washington County-not maximizing departmental compensation, perpetuating programs which benefit them personally, or pursuing public accolades.

I will be requesting that the County Commissioners consider an independent review of EMS compensation practices, particularly the use of premium overtime, as well as an independent cost-benefit analysis of the EMS aviation program and participation in the Texas Task Force 1 program.  The helicopter has experienced repeated operational issues and extended periods of unavailability. With their $4.4 million budget tied closely to EMS payroll costs, it is difficult to justify this expense without clear evidence of public benefit.

I question the County’s failure to consider any outside applicants for the EMS Director position. It appears from the excesses I have identified that the hiring of a qualified applicant from outside the County is a necessity to address these excesses. Giving the job to an internal applicant who has clearly benefited from the excesses and has been trained by his predecessor to perpetuate them is a guaranteed recipe for continuation of the excesses.  I also will urge a review of other questionable areas, such as indigent health care.  There appear to be significant opportunities to reduce waste and insure responsible stewardship of taxpayer dollars.         

To end on a positive note, I want to again thank Jeana, Megan, Morgan and their entire team for their outstanding work. They are the reason I am donating $20,000 to support this County-wide spay/neuter initiative.  Thank you for your time. May you all have a blessed Easter weekend as we celebrate our Risen Lord and Savior!