REDMOND – The walls are up, the roof is on, and the front doorway is wide open at the new Redmond Humane Society building.

What’s missing is the anxious bark of dogs and persistent meowing of cats awaiting adoption. The only animal in sight is a nervous rabbit that squeezed in under an open door to seek shelter from the mid-morning heat.

Shade is about the only thing the building has to offer stray animals at this point.

The Redmond Humane Society ran out of money to complete construction of the expansive 10,000-square-foot building last year.

Officials with the humane society said they believe the building will be finished by spring 2004, about two years later than expected.

But for now, work on the $1 million facility has ground to a halt.

”It’s been very frustrating,” said Jill Darnielle, Redmond Humane Society Board vice president and a member of the organization’s building committee.

An animal lover who runs an ad-hoc pet rescue operation out of her Crooked River Ranch home, Darnielle said she’s disappointed that the humane society has been unable to complete the shelter.

Earlier this year, Darnielle, who dabbles in theater, put on a dinner theater production in Redmond to raise money for the building project. She had hoped to raise as much as $10,000 but ended up with closer to $2,000, she said. That kind of money isn’t going to make a dent in the construction bill, though, Darnielle concedes. The humane society needs about $450,000 to finish constructing the building, which sits on five acres east of downtown Redmond.

When finished the building will more than triple the humane society’s space for stray cats and dogs. It will have 24 kennels for strays and 32 kennels for dogs that have been left for adoption.

The will be more space for cats, as well. The new building design calls for three ”cat colonies,” rooms decorated to resemble an average den or living room where cats are free to lounge.

The additional space means humane society employees will be able to keep the building cleaner and animals more healthy, said Jamie Kanski, executive director.

Just as importantly it meets the growing need for shelter space as demand increases along with the area’s population.

Last year, the Redmond Humane Society took 326 stray dogs from Deschutes County animal control officers alone. That represented a 30 percent increase from 2001, Kanski said.

The humane society has already invested more than $600,000 in the building’s construction. Most of that money came from grants given to the organization, Kanski said.

But the well of grant funding all but ran dry after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

”We were going along on a really good track with fund-raising and grants. But after 9-11 and the economic downturn it just fell off,” Kanski said. ”I contacted foundations and for the first time I got a recording saying they had no money.”

It wasn’t long after construction began in November 2001 that humane society officials realized they were running out of money.

By the end of last year, the money was gone. But the building was far from complete. There are no floors, there’s no plumbing or electrical wiring or interior walls.

”We were pretty devastated, actually. We just kept trying to figure out ways and scheme and dream how we were going to raise money,” Darnielle said.

The humane society is banking on a pair of fund-raisers slated for later this year and a land donation, which will be converted into cash, to get a start on the interior.

Fund-raising and granting alone won’t get the job done though, said Kanski. If the humane society wants to complete the building anytime in the foreseeable future, it will have to borrow most of the money, she said.

With interest rates at an all-time low, it’s not a bad option for the organization, Kanski said. The humane society would repay the loan using future donations, grants and revenues from pet adoptions, a new pet boarding service, its thrift shop and a gift shop.

”I think in the long run it would be far more expensive to keep this project in limbo,” Kanski said.

Already the humane society is paying insurance on both its current home, at 925 Sisters Avenue, and its future location. As a result its insurance bill has doubled, Kanski said. Beyond that, the humane society faces increased building material costs with each delay, said Kanski.

The price tag for the project has risen steeply since the project was first conceived. Unexpected costs related to construction permits, road and utility work, which the city required, have contributed in part to the increase.

At the same time the humane society, lost any equity in its current building which sits on land near the airport leased to the society by the city.

The humane society opted not to renew its lease which expires in August 2004. The city currently leases land to the organization at a rate of $1 per year. City officials have said that FAA rules require the city to charge market rates in future leases, about $15,000 per year, said Carrie Novick airport manager.

Another airport provision inhibits the sale of the building.

Under the terms of the lease, all properties on city land near the airport revert to the city ownership at the end of the lease period. Kanski said the building it will hand over to the city has been appraised at $160,000. The humane society still owes about $86,000.

To offset some of the hardship related to the move, city councilors last year cut the humane society a check for $70,000.

Deschutes County Commissioners have also helped. They recently increased the rates the county pays to Central Oregon Humane Society shelter in Bend and the Redmond Humane Society. Previously the county paid $14.50 per day to place dogs at the Redmond Humane Society.

Beginning Aug. 1, the county will pay $20 per day.

The county also increased dog licensing fees form $10-$12 for neutered pets, and from $24 to $27 for dogs not neutered. In both cases, the county has earmarked $2 of the increase for future capital projects at the humane societies.

”I realize how important humane societies are. They save the citizens a countless amount of money in the long run. It’s unfortunate that they have to struggle as hard as they do to get the money they need,” said Mike Daly, a Deschutes County Commissioner whose wife serves on the Redmond Humane Society board.

Redmond’s humane society isn’t the only one stumping for building funds.

The humane society in Bend is looking to raise about $250,000 for the construction of a new $2.4 million shelter in Bend.

Jim Schell, the Central Oregon Humane Society president, said his board is paying close attention to the troubles that Redmond experienced as it moves forward on its own construction project.

However, he said, the Bend board is confident they will avoid the pitfalls Redmond encountered.

”We are just going to make sure that before we have the first shovel full of dirt moved, that we have the money in the bank,” Schell said.

Eric Flowers can be reached at 541-504-2336 or eflowers@bendbulletin.com.