DETROIT (Michigan News Source) – Allowing city residents to keep chickens, ducks and honeybees within city limits comes with an annual cost of $1.7 million a year for the city of Detroit.

That’s according to a city memo that the Detroit City Council received for its Jan. 28 meeting.

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The city stated the animal keeping ordinance that was passed in November allowed residents to keep chickens, ducks and honeybees, provided that Detroit residents are licensed with Detroit’s Animal Care and Control Department.

Prior to the ordinance, the city code prohibited the “owning, harboring, keeping, maintaining, selling, or transferring of farm or wild animals.”

The city stated, “The ordinance would limit possession of ducks and chickens to eight animals and honeybee hives to four hives for residential lots, schools, educational institutions and sit-down restaurants and 12 total animals and six hives for urban farms and gardens. Roosters would be prohibited in all settings.”

Among other costs, the city will have to hire a Supervising Animal Care & Control Field Officer, a Supervising Animal Care & Control Care Officer, a Animal Control Investigator and an Animal Control Officer. Altogether, that’s $1.7 million a year, including $400,000 for vehicle acquisition and upfitting.

The ordinance would also generate new license revenue but the city didn’t provide an estimate of how much that would be.