Dogs, like these romping at the Cranberry Rotary Dog Park, would have their license fees increased if a request by the state agriculture secretary goes through.

The push continues by officials in Harrisburg to increase the price of dog licenses from $6.50 for a neutered or spayed dog to $10 to augment the insufficient budget of the state Bureau of Dog Law Enforcement and fill the 14 vacant dog warden positions across Pennsylvania.

Russell Redding, the state secretary of agriculture, conducted a virtual news conference recently to press for the fee increase.

Redding reiterated that the bureau is taking $1.2 million from the state budget's general fund for the total $7.2 million cost of operating the bureau annually.

The increase, Redding said, would bring in an additional $2.5 million, which would allow the bureau to fill the vacant dog warden positions. Currently, there are 46 wardens to handle canine issues in all 67 counties in the state.

Redding said quarantining dogs that have attacked, documenting and following dog attacks, ensuring kennels are operating properly and canvassing for unlicensed dogs are a few of the important functions performed by the state's dog wardens.

He said of the 46 current wardens, 23 cover multiple counties. While staff has decreased by 23% at the bureau, kennel inspections are up by 19%, he said.

“Dog wardens are stretched thin,” Redding said.

He said if the fee is not increased, counties and municipalities will find themselves dealing with the canine issues normally handled by state dog wardens, which will be funded by taxpayer money.The last dog license fee increase was in 1997, he said.Janice Creason, treasurer in Dauphin County, said the township where she lives had to raise taxes to pay for housing stray dogs collected by police and others.If those strays had a tag, that tax increase could have been avoided, Creason said, but there are not enough state dog wardens to pursue the public campaign to license dogs.Creason said her office gets three to four calls per week from people asking for information from a dog tag on a stray.“The license is the dog's ticket home,” she said.

Butler County Treasurer Diane Marburger said in March that the state association of county treasurers voted against an increase at its last meeting.Marburger said the Bureau of Dog Law Enforcement did not provide enough financial sustainability information to earn a vote favoring the increase.State Rep. Marci Mustello, R-11th, said in March that she does not support an increase in dog licensing. “Why are they constantly going after people who do renew their dog licenses every year?” Mustello said. “The people who do not license their dogs, nobody is going after them.”Redding said Thursday that filling the 14 warden vacancies would get more dogs licensed.“The goal is to get every dog owner to license their dog,” he said. “Every single day, we are trying to increase the number of dogs that are licensed.”He said 60% of dogs in the state are licensed, while 40% are not. Canvassing neighborhoods for unlicensed dogs by dog wardens, Redding said, is the only way to improve those number.“We will keep working to get to that goal,” he said.Creason said she has spoken to Marburger about the issue of increasing the license fee.“If 50% of people run stop signs, why have stop signs?” Creason said. “You can't base decisions on who's not participating.”Bills are before both the state House and Senate to increase the fee to $10.