Seminole County

Seminole officials want details on how cash will be spent

commissioners agree to give the Central Florida Zoo $100,000 in tourist tax money, but commissioners voice concern that the nonprofit zoo doesn’t give details on how money is spent.

Seminole County commissioners narrowly agreed to give the Central Florida Zoo & Botanical Gardens $100,000 in tourist tax money to help pay for new boardwalks at the facility.

But commissioners also voiced strong concerns that the nonprofit zoo increasingly requests county funds to pay for improvement projects without providing specific details on how the money will be spent.

“That zoo is not the responsibility of this County Commission,” Commissioner Carlton Henley said before voting against the funding request. “We have a lot of other responsibilities that need to be met, too. … The zoo always has a need and always will have a need. And I don’t want to see this board take ownership of the responsibilities for that zoo.”

Commissioner Bob Dallari joined Henley in voting against it. Commissioners John Horan, Brenda Carey and Lee Constantine voted to grant the zoo’s request.

Horan, however, cautioned the county can support the zoo up to a certain point.

“This board has always been supportive of the zoo,” he said. “No doubt about that. Without this board, the zoo wouldn’t have had its long history here. However, I believe it’s always been the opinion of this board that we don’t want to be in the zoo business. We don’t have the means to underwrite a major zoo as a county.”

The county has given the zoo $225,000 annually in tourist development funds over the past five years — including in November, when the zoo requested $600,000. Last week, zoo officials requested an additional $100,000 toward completing new boardwalks leading into its new Florida bear educational exhibit, scheduled to open this month.

But Dallari said the zoo’s request lacked details.

“There’s a lot of pieces missing,” he said. “I’m very pro zoo. I want help the zoo. But I just want to know what the dollars are going toward. … For the past two years I’ve been asking for a financial business plan. Moving forward, I’d like to know what their five-year capital improvements plan that they’re asking us for is, instead of nickeling and diming us each year.”

Charles Davis, president of the zoo’s board of directors, said the zoo will put together a plan detailing its future projects and costs and meet with commissioners.

“Right now, we go year to year,” Davis said. “And things happen during the year. The park is a 40-plus year old park, but things happen. The airconditioning goes out. So you have to redirect funds.”

To fund its $4.2 million annual budget, the zoo relies on visitors, donations and fundraisers, besides the annual contributions from the county. In 2012, the county purchased 17 acres adjacent to the zoo for $1.45 million to help the organization build a Wild African Safari Park. However, plans for that safari park were dropped last year in favor of a