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A deer in Nichols Arboretum in Ann Arbor.

(File photo | The Ann Arbor News)

ANN ARBOR, MI - Ann Arbor could end up spending more than $250,000 on deer management efforts in 2017.

The city's staff presented updated budget calculations at a City Council work session Monday night, Oct. 24, showing $258,545 in expected costs if the city carries out a combination lethal/nonlethal program.

That includes shooting up to 100 deer and surgically sterilizing up to 60 deer, plus doing more vegetation impact studies and other data collection.

The city's staff estimates it would cost $161,795 to do everything except the sterilization, though staff is recommending both lethal and nonlethal components.

See the proposed budget below:

A budget sheet prepared by Ann Arbor's city staff, showing estimated costs for the city's winter 2017 deer management plans.

White Buffalo Inc. founder and president Anthony DeNicola appeared before the City Council on Monday to discuss his organization's proposal, which was solicited by the city, for a combination approach to control the deer population.

DeNicola said darting and sterilization will help achieve population reduction in neighborhoods where sharpshooting isn't allowed. He suggested there could be a 10-20 percent annual decline through natural attrition.

The City Council budgeted $145,000 for deer management this year, so the city would need to come up with extra funds for what's being proposed now. That's a decision the council is expected to make next month.

Tom Crawford, the city's chief financial officer, called the proposal a practical plan that can help build community.

He said Ann Arbor has residents who are intelligent and passionate -- some for culling and some against it -- and the city has tried to work with both sides.

Crawford said the number of deer-involved vehicle crashes has increased, while chronic wasting disease is getting closer to Ann Arbor, and there are concerns about deer negatively impacting natural areas.

On the other hand, he said, some city residents have a higher tolerance for deer, view them in a positive light, and are advocating for a change in the deer management program that includes nonlethal methods or no action all.

"Nobody got everything they wanted," he said.

Crawford said the city has made a request to coordinate with the University of Michigan to potentially fund some of the deer management efforts planned for winter 2017 and that's under consideration now.

The city plans to continue collecting data related to deer, looking at the areas of safety, impacts to vegetation, traffic crashes, deer nuisance concerns, herd size trends and health, and community acceptance.

In some cases, the city expects it will take three to five years of collecting data before long-term objectives can be determined.

For now, the city has set goals of having no deer in Ann Arbor with chronic wasting disease and seeing no further increases in deer/vehicle crashes. The city intends to add signs warning motorists of deer along roadways where appropriate.

The city intends to measure community acceptance of the deer management program, with a goal of having 75 percent of surveyed residents in a ward respond that damage to their private landscape or garden plants is at an acceptable level, and a separate goal of having 75 percent of surveyed residents in a ward respond that the city's strategy of managing the deer population is acceptable.

The City Council is expected to hold public hearings at a special meeting on Nov. 14 before voting on moving forward with the plan for winter 2017. The city still needs to get approval from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.

Council Member Sabra Briere, D-1st Ward, said the city should be considering nonlethal options, but she notes the city doesn't yet have approval from the state to conduct an experimental sterilization program.

"Culling is swift and sure, and therefore less expensive," Briere said at one point Monday night. "Contraception or sterilization is still experimental. It doesn't reduce the number of deer immediately. It reduces the number of infant deer who become deer the next year."

Crawford said the total cost of deer management efforts carried out in 2016 was about $87,000.