Zoo's defiency funding request (mostly) clears first hurdle

The Department of Natural Resources received good news from a House committee Tuesday morning; the Minnesota Zoo not so much.

A bill that would cover budget shortfalls at the zoo and the DNR was approved by the House Environment and Natural Resources Policy and Finance Committee.

But while the DNR received its full funding request, the zoo did not.

The zoo's attendance accounts for nearly 60 percent of its earned revenue; but a combination of rising expenses and declining attendance have created a shortfall of $1.5 million for fiscal year 2015. Lee Ehmke, the zoo’s director and president, said that if this deficit is not addressed, available cash would be depleted by early spring.

“This is a matter of significant urgency to the zoo,” Ehmke said.

A long, cold winter in 2014 contributed to attendance levels that did not meet expectations. Year-over-year attendance was down 4 percent in the first quarter of fiscal year 2014, and down 7 percent from budgeted projections.

Ehmke said the zoo is much more reliant on attendance to fund its operations than other zoos. Annual public support for operations at accredited zoos is 34 percent on average, according to Ehmke. The Minnesota Zoo’s General Fund appropriation for Fiscal Year 2015 covers 22 percent of its budget, which is an all-time low.

HF358 seeks to make up the shortfall with a onetime appropriation of $1.5 million from the General Fund. However, Rep. Steve Green (R-Fosston) successfully offered an oral amendment seeking to reduce the funding amount by 10 percent to $1.35 million. Green cited testimony that attendance had been better in the second quarter of Fiscal Year 2014.

Rep. Denny McNamara (R-Hastings), chair of the committee and sponsor of the bill, supported the amendment, saying $150,000 in an approximately $50 million biennial budget was something the zoo could realistically handle.

The amendment was approved by a 12-7 roll call vote.

McNamara said he believes the bill is being fast tracked (it now moves to the House Ways and Means Committee) and hopes the Senate, where there is currently no companion bill, will move to act quickly as well. But he cautioned that zoo funding is an issue that’s likely to return.

“I think long term, this body and this committee will be dealing with how to properly fund the Minnesota Zoo,” McNamara said.

DNR request approved

Col. Ken Soring, director of the DNR’s Enforcement Division, explained his agency’s onetime request for $568,000 was also needed to cover a Fiscal Year 2015 funding shortfall.

Soring said the money would allow enforcement officers to maintain their current service coverage levels. This funding would come from the General Fund ($69,000), the Game and Fish Fund ($371,000) and the Natural Resources Fund ($128,000).

Soring said the Enforcement Division entered the fiscal year with a projected $1.8 million deficit caused by years of inflation working against flat, inflexible budgets. But much of that deficit has already been addressed by measures the division has taken to reduce expenses, including reduced travel and training, and identifying additional federal resources.

Committee members did not seek to trim the DNR’s funding request.