Stanislaus County Board of Supervisors Watch

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By unanimous vote, the Stanislaus County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday:

• Lowered the cost of spay and neuter vouchers from $140 to $72 for male cats and to $113 for female cats. The same services for low-income pet owners were reduced from $72 to $50 for male cats and to $63 for female cats. Demand for dog vouchers has remained constant since new fees were established in July. But cat owners bought only 51 vouchers in the next five months compared with 330 in the same period a year earlier. Reducing the price should encourage more owners to spay and neuter cats, officials say. The shelter euthanizes 77 percent of its cats. Supervisors also agreed to charge $203 to drop off pets for people who live in Oakdale, Riverbank, Turlock and Newman, which use other shelters.

• Increased the daily charge for Juvenile Hall inmates from $19.75 to $24.41. In the last fiscal year, officers billed families $777,400 but collected 12 percent, or $93,400. Per-day charges in other counties range from $3.81 to $29.28. "It's not like collecting a fee upfront," said Jill Silva, chief deputy probation officer. "Sometimes we can't locate the parents to collect."

• Changed health care providers for county inmates. Bidding a contract to nurse 1,500 detainees is resulting in a switch from California Forensic Medical Group, which held the contract for more than 20 years, to California Correct Care Solutions. The contract's base amount increases from $7.1 million for the coming fiscal year to $8.6 million in 2013. The lower amount comes to more than $4,700 per year to incarcerate one person, board Chairman Jim DeMartini noted. "That seems rather high to me," he said.

• Changed various fees for building permits and planning services, raising perhaps $140,000 per year. Included are new charges for flood plain administration, reviewing alcohol permits and landscape inspections. Fees for an average new house would go from $26,400 to $27,200. "In my mind it's not that much different," said Planning Director Kirk Ford. Having studied actual costs, his department eventually will propose much higher fees, he said, but he's opting to hold back until the economy rebounds. The Building Industry Association of Central California sent a protest letter. "The private sector is responding (to the recession) by decreasing costs and lowering pricing," executive officer Steve Madison wrote. "The government sector is responding by continuing to increase costs to the private sector and property owners." The association urged Ford to present the higher fees to allow "objective vetting by stakeholders and constituents."

• Exercised a right to a six-year contract extension with Covanta Stanislaus, which produces electricity by burning garbage near Crows Landing, to keep garbage rates from soaring under the company's current demands.

— Garth Stapley