The zoo leadership for the past two months has pushed for more tax money to pay for increased maintenance and animal care costs.
Hamilton County property owners will find out today what they'll be asked to contribute to the Cincinnati Zoo.
The three county commissioners at their 11 a.m. meeting today will decide whether to place a zoo levy on the May ballot - and whether to increase the levy amount.
the amount for the zoo levy – if anything – they'll put on the May primary ballot.
If the zoo supporters get what they want, the owner of a $100,000 house would pay $3.50 more. It would be the first tax increase for the zoo in 10 years.
The zoo leadership for the past two months has pushed for more tax money to pay for what they say are increased maintenance and animal care costs.
This included a board of commissioners hearing Feb. 1 with a capacity crowd of more than 60 people in the Board of Elections office in Norwood - with all but one in support of the levy increase.
Parents gave emotional accounts of what the zoo has meant for their children.
Without the levy, the zoo might have to delay needed repairs, said Thane Maynard, Cincinnati Zoo director.
That’s a problem for the country’s second-oldest zoo where 40 percent of the buildings are more than 80 years old, Maynard said. The zoo has claimed its Reptile House, built in 1875, is the oldest operating zoo building in the United States. The elephant house, built in 1905, needs a new dome and roof repairs. That will cost $4 million, he said.
The zoo wasn't able to convince the county tax levy review committee. That's the nine-member volunteer body that makes recommendations on what levies the board of commissioners should consider.
The committee recommended keeping the levy the same at $10.07 per $100,000 of value.
The taxpayers have more pressing needs for "life-protecting" services, a report issued in January by the levy committee.
"Particularly with the most recent dramatic changes in the cost of healthcare, the last eight years of local government fund cuts, and now with the changes in the income tax laws, we recommend you keep this levy flat," the committee stated in the report.
Property taxes bring in $6.5 million annually, which is 17 percent of the current budget.
One suggestion: charge higher zoo admission to non-Hamilton County residents, said Jennifer O'Donnell, a member of the nine-member Hamilton County Tax Levy Review Committee. She made the suggestion to the county commission last month while presenting the committee's recommendations.
The zoo has passed all its levies except for one since taxpayers first began paying for the zoo in 1982. The only fail came in 1997 when the zoo asked for double the amount and threatened to move elephants and polar bears to Louisville. The zoo ended up moving two of the elephants to Louisville temporarily after it failed.