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Effective Nov. 1 the county will no longer be offering single year dog licenses and will switch to a lifetime dog license.
Currently, single year tags are $4 each. With the change, the fee will now be $10 for a lifetime tag, and a rabies vaccination certificate is required to purchase the tag.

“The lifetime dog license is good for the life of the dog as long as the dog’s rabies vaccination remains current,” said County Treasurer Patricia Berkeley. “If the rabies vaccination expires, the lifetime license becomes void. The dog must then be vaccinated, and new lifetime license purchased.”

Berkeley continued to say that the tag is non-transferrable to any other dog or any other dog owner. “The lifetime license is non-transferrable to other localities as well,” she said. “There is also no proration or refund of dog licensing fee.”
Legislation was passed by the 2017 General Assembly to allow for local governments the option to implement a lifetime dog license for individual dogs with no changes to a kennel or dangerous dog license process. “Kennel licenses and dangerous dog licenses are still required to be purchased yearly” added Berkeley

According to Berkeley, the Charlotte County Treasures Office reviews rabies vaccinations that are given each month to canines and are required to send out letters if the owner has not purchased a license. “By implementing the lifetime license, in my opinion, this will reduce the workload of the office and provide savings to the locality,” Berkeley said. “I thought this change would be a benefit to the dog owners as well as to the locality. This way, the owners don’t have to visit the office yearly to purchase a dog license. If the dog were to live for several years, it would be a saving to the citizens.”