The figure represents a steep decline from previous years: the city issued roughly 8,000 licenses last year, 18,000 in 2017 and 40,896 in 2013. The license fee has been frozen for decades at $5 a year for spayed and neutered dogs, $50 for those that are not, and $2.50 for senior citizens, so cost is not the barrier, Valencia said.

Instead, she attributed the collapse to a lack of public awareness. "People don't know. And if you don't have a marketing budget to tell people, they just don't understand," Valencia said. "There's no marketing dollars. You can do as much free marketing as possible, which we have, but there's 2.7 million people in this city. We've done some free PSA stuff. That's important, but it's not gonna be enough to move the needle."

Valencia said her office has prioritized other initiatives, including amnesty programs that provide debt relief, City Key IDs that help residents secure housing and enroll children in school, and City Council modernization. "We only have so many people and so many resources," she said.

Downtown Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd) called the licensing numbers "ridiculously low" and said enforcement has "never been a priority" for the city, even within its own agencies. He noted that the Commission on Animal Care and Control transfers roughly 10,000 dogs to adoption partners such as PAWS and the Anti-Cruelty Society without issuing licenses before the transfers.

"The vast majority of dog owners want to comply with city laws, but many are unaware that the city even requires a license. The city should not be imposing licensing requirements without properly educating the public regarding their obligations," Reilly said. He urged Valencia to launch a public education campaign using free public service announcement airtime on local TV and radio, as well as the city's network of JCDecaux billboards, bus shelter ads and video kiosks.

Ald. Ray Lopez (15th), the City Council's resident dog lover, said the disparity is stark when compared with Cook County, which issues about 500,000 annual rabies tags. He described a "breakdown in communication that's hurting the city's ability to fully track" stray dogs.

"It's not just about the revenue. It helps with identification and the return-to-owner law. If your pet escapes and has a valid city license tag on it, we'll bring that pup home for free. It won't go to Animal Care and Control because we'll know where that dog belongs," Lopez said. "That's the greatest value of the dog license."

Dog owners can obtain a license at the city clerk's office or through the clerk's website. Enforcement has historically been lax. In 2005, the clerk's office installed software to match its short list of licensed dogs against Cook County's larger list of dogs with rabies shots, and warning letters produced a small boost in registrations. A larger surge followed in October 2011, when then-Clerk Susana Mendoza's outreach campaign and the threat of tickets drove registrations up.

On Friday, Lopez proposed requiring animal hospitals and veterinarians to purchase city dog licenses in advance, as they do rabies tags, and issue them "at the point of vaccination." He likened the approach to administering "a sales tax in a retail environment."

Valencia floated a "universal dog license" issued jointly by the city and the Chicago Park District. "The Park District offers a dog license and we do. Instead of overlapping, we should do one together and split the cost. But we can't do that until we get our new technology system," she said.

The low compliance rate means the city is forgoing revenue and losing a key tool for reuniting lost dogs with their owners, a gap that aldermen say needs a fix as budget hearings continue.