Bellevue, NE Animal Ordinances: Mandatory Spay/Neuter (2026)

Section 6-40 of the Bellevue Code of Ordinances sets up a sterilization trust rather than an outright spay/neuter mandate. When an owner licenses a dog or cat under Division 2 of chapter 6, the animal is presumed unspayed or unneutered unless the owner presents a licensed veterinarian's certification of permanent sterilization to the licensing authority. The portion of the fee tied to that presumption, set in the city's Master Fee Schedule, is not spent by the city outright; instead it is held in trust for the owner.

An owner has a six-month window from the date the fee is paid to reclaim that trust by later producing a veterinarian's sterilization certificate. If the six months pass without that proof, the money becomes the property of the licensing authority, and a later claim that the animal died, was lost, or was stolen does not revive the right to a refund. The mechanism sits alongside the annual licensing scheme in §§ 6-31 through 6-39.1, which requires every dog and cat over four months old to be licensed and gives the licensing authority discretion to waive late charges, and works with the rabies-vaccination trust fee in the following § 6-41, which operates the same way for unvaccinated animals under one year old.