City officials said Tuesday night that transitioning zoo governance from the city to a nonprofit group shifts risk away from the city government, which can have long-term savings. The city and zoo have been discussing transition governance to the non-profit group Friends of the Zoo for years, but conversations have intensified recently. The zoo’s budget in 2019 was $2.6 million and is 2.3% of the city’s total budget, according to the director of the finance department Jessica Lamendola. She said when city departments budgets are that small they might not get prioritized with funding, and transitioning the zoo to a nonprofit model could benefit the zoo.
Source: Local News | Topeka Capital-Journal
