Nov. 10--Mayor Rahm Emanuel's proposal to toughen the city's dog license rules got the go-ahead Monday from a City Council panel.
The Budget Committee passed rules requiring a person who has a dog in public to be able to produce a registration tag or face daily fines. The change, part of the mayor's annual management ordinance, will be considered Wednesday by the full City Council.
Under the plan, police and other city officials will be able to ask to see the licenses for dogs on the public way whose tags are not visible on their collars. If the person accompanying the dog can't produce the license, the official will be able to immediately issue a citation ranging from $30 to $200. The fines will continue each day until the dog gets a license.
Dog license rules have historically been largely ignored by pet owners in Chicago. City Clerk Susana Mendoza told aldermen last year that a two-year push to raise the percentage of canines with tags had resulted in an increase to about 41,000 licensed dogs out of a population the Anti-Cruelty Society estimates at 653,000 dogs citywide.
Current city rules only allow citations to be mailed to dog owners, who then have a month to get their dogs licensed before additional citations can be issued.
Registration costs $5 annually for spayed or neutered animals and $50 for dogs that haven't been sterilized. The city clerk's office offers licenses that are good for one year or three years.
jebyrne@tribune.com
