WATERTOWN — The City Council will take up a resolution on Monday night that provides enough money to allow Zoo New York to open for the season but does not give a commitment for the future.
Council members will be asked to appropriate $100,000 for the zoo in Thompson Park so it can open for this season in early May. Zoo officials had asked the city for a commitment of $375,000 each year for five years so it could weather a financial crisis that threatens the zoo’s future.
Councilman Robert O. Kimball supports the $100,000 in funding, contending that there are too many questions after discussing it with City Manager Eric F. Wagenaar.
“I think we don’t provide more money until other issues are addressed,” Kimball said.
The city needs to see if Jefferson County agrees to providing financial support to the zoo, he said. Zoo officials plan to ask the county for $375,000 for each of the next five years.
It has to be determined whether taxpayers would want tax increases to pay for the zoo, Kimball said. Council also must determine how much it would cost to close the zoo compared to keeping it opened, he added.
Before his discussion with Wagenaar, Kimball had been advocating to provide $100,000 in up-front funding, another $275,000 when a new agreement is reached with the zoo and $375,000 for each of the next two years.
Before talking to the city manager, Kimball presented his earlier proposal to Councilman Cliff G. Olney III.
So Olney said he was surprised — and disappointed — that the resolution that council members would vote on Monday contains only the $100,000 for the zoo. He wanted to know what changed after the two council members had talked.
Olney still supports making a bigger commitment to the zoo.
“I’m sure there’s going to be more discussion on Monday night,” he said.
Councilwoman Lisa A. Ruggiero said she also thought that there was enough support on council to provide more funding to the zoo.
“This is not what they asked for,” she said of zoo officials. “They wanted the city to give more of a commitment.”
She suggested using the remaining balance for the cost of the city’s new $4 million pool, being built on the north side, for the zoo and paying for the pool by taking out a bond.
For years, the zoo has approached the city about taking on more financial support.
The city owns the property and zoo buildings, while the Thompson Park Conservancy operates the facility.
Last week, interim zoo director Mark D. Irwin and zoo board chairman and former City Manager Kenneth A. Mix met with Wagenaar and council members individually about the funding request.
On Friday, Mix had no comment about the funding, saying that he and Irwin will attend Monday’s meeting.
“We’ll see what happens,” Mix said.
Zoo officials are asking for residents to attend Monday’s council meeting to support the zoo and reach out to council members about the funding.
“We need your voice,” they said.
The meeting is at 7 p.m. Monday in the third-floor council chambers of City Hall, 245 Washington St.
In his memo to council, Wagenaar wrote that the city will use its fund balance for the zoo funding.
He also wrote that the city had already provided a $165,000 financial commitment to the zoo by paying for the cost of electricity, gas, water and city parks grounds crews.
Zoo officials have said that it could cost as much as $1 million to close the zoo, find new homes for the animals and prepare the facility to make that happen.
The zoo temporarily closed in October after the Thompson Park Conservancy determined it could no longer stay open without making major changes.
Zoo officials have stressed that time is of the essence and they need to know soon what the city plans to do because they need to make preparations if the zoo is to open on May 4.
