Police Chief Timothy Jackson and Deputy Police Chief Scott Forster present the police budget for 2026 to city council Monday night. P-J photo by Sara Holthouse

Animal control costs for the city of Jamestown are going up, creating an area of concern for the city police department as City Council members begin budget talks.

Of the things noted during the recent budget presentation from the Jamestown Police Department to the City Council, Police Chief Timothy Jackson highlighted the contract between the department and Pick of the Litter for animal control cases. Jackson said the contract has increased since it was put together to $500 a month, or $6,000 a year.

“As you may have seen in the media, we’ve had a lot of animal cruelty cases, which may in the future in 2026 cost us a little more money,” Jackson said. “I’m confident in the number that is presented before you, I’m just giving you a warning it has increased quite a bit.”

Jackson added that he was not a part of creating the contract, and that it was created with Corporation Counsel Elliot Raimondo, so he was not sure of why there was an increase. It was noted that Pick of the Litter houses and takes care of the dogs and other animals involved in animal control cases, and for cruelty cases they have to hold them until the court says what to do with them or the case is over. Some animals have been there for a few years, and these cases can take a long time, so Jackson said it gets expensive. There are also no alternatives, such as the Chautauqua County Humane Society, which does not have the space.

“We looked into that four or five years ago and couldn’t come up with anything,” Jackson said.

Other items of note that Jackson presented to the council in the police budget included court security, which is something he said comes through the state and is reimbursed by them, computer programing and equipment, body cameras, and vehicle repair.

When it comes to vehicles for the police department, there is currently one budgeted for in the 2026 budget, but Jackson said he would like to be able to get two.

Some of the cars are up to 95,000 miles and Jackson said they will start breaking soon. Deputy Chief Scott Forster said there are two with almost 100,000 miles.

“They put on 35,000 or 40,000 miles, give or take, a year,” Forster said.

Vehicle repair for the department’s current vehicles was also noted to have gone down, with a concern brought up by members of the council as to whether or not that is realistic considering that most of the vehicles are not new.

Salaries, which are all contractual, communications, and the retirement allowance were all also discussed, with the retirement allowance seeing the biggest increase. Four people are eligible to retire in 2026, though that does not necessarily mean they will be doing so. An understaffing concern was also brought up, with the question of where the budgeted money for the police officers that the department does not have goes, to which Comptroller Erika Thomas said she believed it goes back into the general fund.

There is money that has been included in the budget for the painting of the city jail as well, but Jackson said there is no urgency on that as it is not state mandated but rather his own idea as the jail is beginning to look “beat up”.

Budget presentations from the city’s departments continue into November before the budget is required to be approved by Dec. 1.