By Christopher Magan

St. Paul Pioneer Press

ST. PAUL — After a tough year financially, Minnesota Zoo officials say they don’t need just an emergency influx of cash from the state, but increased annual funding, if they are to avoid layoffs or shuttering exhibits.

Lawmakers in the Minnesota House and Senate are considering $1.35 million in emergency funding to help the zoo close a budget shortfall for the current fiscal year. That money would be on top of the $5.4 million in state funding already budgeted for operations.

Bills could come to the floor in both chambers this week.

The zoo’s deficit comes after last year’s bitter winter and historically soggy spring hurt attendance, driving down revenue, said Executive Director Lee Ehmke. Increased cost of animal care and higher wages from a state negotiated union contract also hurt the bottom line.

The zoo has an annual operating budget of about $25 million, and revenue was off about $2 million last year, records show. Zoo leaders have reduced their budget by $900,000 over the past two years, including staff cuts last fall.

Admission fees are the zoo’s largest revenue generator and personnel the largest expense, Ehmke said.

“What we are dealing with essentially is a structural deficiency,” Ehmke said of the zoo’s budget, about 22 percent of which comes from the state. “It’s not just a one-time fix. We need it going forward.”

At zoo officials’ request, Gov. Mark Dayton included $5.6 million of additional funding for the zoo in his two-year budget proposal. If approved, Ehmke said, that total of $8.2 million of state funding a year would cover about 32 percent of the zoo’s operating budget, putting it on par with other state-run facilities.

State funding for the zoo has declined from a high of 60 percent in 1985, he said. Without new state money, more staff cuts are inevitable and exhibits might have to be closed.

Apple Valley lawmakers Sen. Greg Clausen, a DFLer, and Rep.

Anna Wills, a Republican, said they support the zoo’s request for more state money.

Wills and Clausen also back a separate request for up to $20 million in capital funds if the Legislature passes a bonding bill this session. That money would be used to update the snow monkey exhibit and other maintenance.

The zoo is set to open an exhibit of Hawaiian monk seals this year at Discovery Bay, where dolphins were once on display. A master plan approved in 2013 calls for a number of new attractions over the next decade.

Much of that work will be paid for with private donations and corporate sponsorships. A growing number of donors prefer to put their money toward specific attractions and programs, rather than operations, Ehmke said.

Those new attractions are key to keeping visitors returning, he said.

Despite the decline in attendance, 1.5 million people visited the zoo last year, one of the facility’s top 10 years for attendance. The number of visitors just wasn’t as high as zoo leaders had hoped.

“Although it sounds like a crisis, and it certainly is a critical point in time for us, this is not a zoo that is failing, in any regard,” Ehmke said.

—The St. Paul Pioneer Press