AUGUSTA – Two bills before state legislators seek to alter funding for Maine’s spay/neuter programs.

Sen. Lois Snowe-Mello, R-Poland, wants to lower the surcharge pet stores have to pay each time they sell an unneutered dog or cat. Now, store officials charge $25, Snowe-Mello wants to lower it to $5. The money goes to help low-income people fix their pets.

“I don’t believe that someone purchasing a pet should have to pay the cost of sterilizing someone else’s pet, nor do I believe this fee is borne by the pet shop owner,” she testified.

Small business owners are hurt by this, she said. They either absorb the cost themselves or pass it on to customers, which hurts businesses.

Sen. John Nutting, D-Leeds, proposed a bill to change the way fees are distributed from the registration of pet and commercial feed. Now, according to the bill, fees are split between the general fund and the Animal Welfare Fund.

The bill, if passed, would require half of the fees going to the general fund – one-fourth of the total funds – to instead go to the Companion Animal Sterilization Fund.

Dog food fees are attached to the large brands, and are standard across New England, said Nutting, who wore a colorful tie with dogs to the hearing.

A crowd of animal lovers crowded the committee room Friday wearing stickers supporting Nutting’s bill and opposing Snowe-Mello’s bill. One after another, they told stories of the plights dogs and cats face due to overpopulation.

Sarah Secovich, co-founder of Spay ME and member of the state’s Animal Welfare Advisory Council, was one in the crowd wearing stickers.

Nutting’s bill would yield $100,000 to $150,000 a year for programs aiming to fix animals, Secovich said.

“Right now, the Help Fix ME phone lines are shut down because there is no money in the program,” she said. “And yet right now, at the start of kitten season, is the time we need these funds the most.”

Paul Fairbrother, owner of Family Pet Center in Auburn, testified in support of Snowe-Mello’s bill.

The store sells mixed-breed cats for $100. The store does not pass on the surcharge, so after taking that into account along with vet costs and boarding, it nets a $5 profit. If he raises the cost, he’ll lose not only the sale of the animal but sales of supplies as well, he said.

“The bill cost me the ability to raise the pay of staff, purchase a vehicle, purchase inventory, etc…” Fairbrother said in his testimony. “There is no way of knowing how much that has cost me. Loss of sales is also lost revenue for the state from lost tax money.”

However, Patty Lovell, managing director of the Franklin County Animal Shelter, said the money from the surcharge has a large impact on the number of unwanted litters.

“A way for the pet store to get away from the surcharge is to spay-neuter the pet prior to the sale,” she said. “A number of shelters spay-neuter before adoption, and it has proven valuable in reducing the number of unwanted births.”