SIERRA VISTA, Ariz. (KGUN) — The Nancy J Brua Animal Care Center in Sierra Vista is in the process of adding space to take in more animals. But the funding for the expansion is at risk.
The project has been in the works for more than four years. Construction started in 2024, after the city approved $2 million to pay for it.
“There's a lot of really important needs out there. The animal shelter is one of them,” said Assistant City Manager, Victoria Yarbrough.
The city budgeted the $2 million in public funds to go toward 18 new kennels; improvements to the electrical connections; and coverings for the outdoor kennels.
Yarbrough said the city's original commitment in 2021, was to supply $800,000 because they anticipated getting a $1.2 million donation. The donation turned out to be the interest on a trust, providing less than $10,000 a year to the shelter.
Yarbrough says the city saw the "critical needs" at the shelter for expansion, which is why they budgeted the full $2 million, covering Phase One and part of Phase Two for the project. Shorty after the budget passed in the summer of 2024, the shelter received a $1 million donation, specifically for construction at the shelter.
“It was always planned to be a $2 million expansion, so I think it's just hard for some to accept that it's a $2 million expansion, and it didn't mean an automatic $3 million expansion, because those are public funds,” Yarbrough said.
Misty Briseno, a volunteer at the Nancy J Brua Animal Care Center, says the announcement of the new donation, led them to believe more of the project could be finished.
“When this $1 million donation came in, everybody was so excited, because we thought that the project was going to be able to go forward and be complete,” Briseno said.
Instead of staying within the project's budget, city officials decided to move the $1 million dollars back to its capital improvements funds, so it could be used for other projects.
"The million dollars has not been spent,” said Sierra Vista Mayor, Clea McCaa.
Briseno took to social media earlier this week, sharing what happened with the funding. She was met with responses sharing her frustrations and concerns about the movement of the funds.
“Every single animal that comes into that shelter has been failed by humans,” she said when asked why she's so passionate.
The question she and many other community members have: Where should the money go?
“Putting it back in the capital improvement fund means it could be used for any number of other projects that council decides it could be used on,” Yarbrough said.
Some of those projects: The new Roadrunner Park, street repairs, and expansion opportunities for the fire department. For Briseno, the answer is clear.
"The shelter needs this money more than other capital projects that might be in the hopper for the city,” she said.
She cites over-crowding at the shelter, something that has been consistent over the last several years.
"The amount of animals coming in never slows," Briseno said. "As fast as we can build them, they'll be full.”
The mayor and council will decide where the $1 million will go during the budget process. McCaa says the animal shelter will still be an option.
"We’re gonna receive information from the public, we're gonna assess that information and make the best decision for the people in the constituents of Sierra Vista,” he said. “We want to make sure that our four-legged friends are taken care of.”
The council will start talking about the budget in March. Yarbrough says this year's budgeting process may include making cuts because the city's revenue has been "flat" over the last year, and they could lose another $3.7 million if the state legislature eliminates the food tax.
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Alexis Ramanjulu is a reporter in Cochise County for KGUN 9. She began her journalism career reporting for the Herald/Review in Sierra Vista, which she also calls home. Share your story ideas with Alexis by emailing alexis.ramanjulu@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook.
