Despite a negative legislative audit and an opening that would have allowed the Salt Lake County Council to divert ZAP tax money to Tracy Aviary, funding for Hogle Zoo will not decrease next year.
The $1.9 million in Zoo, Arts and Parks tax money does come with one caveat, as county councilors unanimously agreed to restrict the use of the fund to operations until state and local leaders decide the future location of the zoo. They have also requested quarterly reports from zoo officials.
"Until their move is settled, they should not spend this on buildings," Councilman Joe Hatch said.
Hatch, a vocal critic of an $8 million entryway that Hogle completed last year, said the County Council needed to continue funding the zoo. It should also avoid focusing only on the negative aspects of the legislative audit and recognize the zoo benefits.
"There was a feeding frenzy . . . to the point where the zoo — an incredibly great organization — was in danger of not surviving," Hatch said. "We should not be a part of that. We have a responsibility to support the zoo."
The zoo has planned $96,000 in exhibit upgrades for this year, which may be considered capital projects. Hogle Zoo Spokeswoman Stacy Phillips said the zoo would prefer to use ZAP money for the upgrades. If the council decides the upgrades are capital projects, the zoo would shift money in its budget to fund them.
"We're not building new exhibits or adding new buildings," Phillips said. "We have to continually maintain exhibits. If we just stopped, we could face fines from the United States Department of Agriculture or lose accreditation."
The County Council also decided against giving $150,000 of the $1.9 million for a veterinary hospital at Tracy Aviary. Currently, only Hogle Zoo qualifies for the 12.5 percent of the ZAP tax that is reserved for zoological organizations or facilities, although a recent district attorney's opinion indicated that Tracy Aviary would probably qualify as well.
Tracy Aviary executive director Nigella Hillgarth said that while Tracy needs the new hospital, the chance it would have lost the Tier I ZAP money — which is used for operations — was not something it wanted to risk. Instead, it will try to raise the money through private donations or other government grants.
"We will use all of our resources," she said. "It's much more important for us to keep the operating money."
Including the aviary in the zoological funding would have required an ordinance change, which some council members seemed hesitant to pursue. Some worried that opening the fund to the aviary could have also allowed other organizations, such as nature parks, to share the funding primarily intended for Hogle.
Councilman Michael Jensen said that if they did open it to the aviary, the qualifications for a zoological foundation should be restrictive.
"We can say that they need to meet some level of standards," he said. "There needs to be some pretty high standards, so you don't get Mom & Pop's Lion Store wanting zoo money."
E-MAIL: jloftin@desnews.com