What do you think of shelters giving away animals?

I am unsure of how i feel about this. For every pro there is a con. Where I live there is an abundance of stray dogs. You can't drive 1 mile without seeing one dead on the road. The animal shelter offers to spay the mother free if surrendering a litter of puppies (wonderful idea!) All are vaccinated and deed before they can be adopted. Here is what brought about the question. There is a cat they've had for about 3 mths, he hasn't been adopted because kittens go first. He is absolutely adorable and loveable. He's been fixed and vaccinated, but they are charging $145 to adopt him. I overheard a comment that if he wasn't adopted in the next week they would put him down. Why not find him a loving home that maybe someone just doesn't want to spend $145 for an adult cat? To feed him would be maybe $100 per year and yearly vaccines $35 (it's cheap here). They're going to be out the cost anyway and he shouldn't have to die. Same goes for dogs/puppies. Plus we're a rabies free zone.