The penalties for failure to license a dog or a cat in Smyth County,Va. just got a little stiffer with the supervisors’ adoption of an amendment to the county code.
The supervisors voted unanimously to adopt the new language Tuesday, a month after a public hearing on the matter heard no comment for or against it.
Until now, failure to license dogs and cats brought a $10 fine for the first offense in a year, $20 for the second.
The amendment makes failure a misdemeanor, subject to the same penalty provided in the Code of Virginia with which the amendment brings county code into agreement.
“If the known owner of any dog or cat shall fail to pay any license tax required by this Chapter before February 1 for the year in which it is due, he or she shall be guilty of a Class 4 misdemeanor, and in addition, the Court may order confiscation and the proper disposition of the dog or cat,” now reads the ordinance.
Class 1 misdemeanors will include impersonating a humane investigator.
The Code of Virginia sets a penalty for a Class 4 misdemeanor at not more then $250. A Class 1 misdemeanor is punishable by “confinement in jail for not more than twelve months and a fine of not more than $2,500, either or both,” the code said.