Bergenfield, NJ Animal Ordinances: Mandatory Spay/Neuter (2026)

Chapter 95, Article I of the Borough Code sets Bergenfield's dog-licensing scheme, and nowhere in it does the Borough compel an owner to alter a dog. Section 95-2C instead builds the incentive into the fee schedule: the base license and registration tag costs $7, but an owner who produces proof the dog has been spayed or neutered pays only $1 for the registration tag. L. 1983, c. 181," New Jersey's statewide dog-license surcharge law that funds animal population-control programs statewide, not a Bergenfield-specific mandate. The Borough Clerk or another official designated by the governing body issues the license, and Section 95-2A requires every dog of "licensing age," defined in Section 95-1 as seven months or the age of a full set of permanent teeth, to be licensed within 10 days of acquisition or reaching that age regardless of whether it is altered.

A. 11, the state dog-license-fund statute. Failing to license a dog at all, altered or not, is a separate violation under Section 95-10, punishable by a fine of not less than $5 nor more than $50 per offense, with a reduced $1-to-$50 range for a first offense. Because the ordinance regulates only the license fee, not reproductive status itself, a Bergenfield owner who keeps an intact dog faces nothing more than the $3 surcharge and remains fully within the law.