Less than a penny a day. That’s the proposed increase on a dog license that would allow the state’s Bureau of Dog Law Enforcement to continue handling its numerous responsibilities, including inspecting dog kennels and cracking down on illegal puppy mills.

That increase, a modest hike if ever there was one, will help cover the increasing costs at the bureau and allow it to move forward without further cuts to programs. This proposal, which would raise the state’s annual dog license fee from $6.50 to $10, is one that the Legislature should move quickly to approve.

The bureau has been on a steady track toward operating losses for the past several years. That track could have been averted if annual license fees hadn’t remained stagnant since 1996. State Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding, whose department oversees the Dog Law Bureau, said operating costs have doubled over the past quarter-century and the workload has increased. He said the number of kennels regulated by the bureau has gone up 19%, and the number of inspections that wardens must perform has increased by 85%, all this despite the fact that there are 14 fewer wardens than in 1996.

The result has been predictable: This year, the license fees had to be supplemented with $1.2 million of tax revenue to fund the bureau. Next year, Mr. Reddingestimates it will require $1.5 million of taxpayer support unless the license fee is increased.

As important as inspecting kennels and shuttering illegal puppy mills are, bureau employees handle a host of other duties such as monitoring dangerous dogs and returning stray dogs to their owners. The bureau also provides grants to shelters that take in stray dogs and has a program to compensate farmers for attacks on livestock.

Proposals to increase the license fee have stalled in the past because opponents argued that there are nearly 1 million unlicensed dogs in the state, and that more diligence in identifying and collecting the fee would make an increase unnecessary.

Unfortunately, that’s not a realistic approach for a bureau that has more work and fewer employees.

Identical bills that would raise the license fee and provide some level of budget stability to the bureau have been introduced in both the state House and Senate. This is commonsense legislation that lawmakers should approve in quick fashion.

— Pittsburgh Post-Gazette/TNS