How Many People Visit the Zoo?
Joe Albero of Salisbury News makes an excellent point. IF the Salisbury Zoo charged visitors $1, and IF the Salisbury Zoo truly attracted hundreds of thousands of visits, then the Salisbury Zoo would have a non-taxpayer funded source of revenue totaling in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Why would zoo officials, or city officials, quarrel with the institution of a $1.00 admission fee? Admittedly, the $1.00 is arbitrary. Michael Swartz takes a slightly different and less arbitrary tack. Based on 50,000 visitors per year and an admission of $3.50 for adults and $1.50 per child the zoo would raise approximately $125,000 per year.
According to some readers of the “Tilghman Times“, reducing the amount of city funding for the zoo is tantamount to destroying the zoo. If reducing taxpayer funds for the zoo is such a problem there are alternatives such as an admission charge, fundraising, sponsorships, etc. Supporters should can rally with their checkbooks rather than demand that the taxpayer should continue footing the bill.
This still boils down to an argument over philosophy and Salisbury’s fiscal policy. Should the Salisbury taxpayer foot the total bill for an attraction that is enjoyed by people throughout the region? Should the people who enjoy that attraction be exempt from having to pay (at least) a portion of the cost? Should the taxpayers of Salisbury be forced to pay a 17% property tax increase to fund the zoo, particularly when there are a myriad of alternatives to the tax increase vs. shut down (or rape) the zoo scenario being argued by the Barrie Tilghman party?
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Another big problem this area faces are the extinction of big contributors in this era. Gone are the Perdue’s, Hensen’s and Seidel’s of the past that contributed a great deal of support. The Hazel’s are still here.
The most recent companies to open are franchise corporate jobs, ask them for a donation and I bet you get this answer, “We budget a certain amount of money a year for charity, and at this point our funds are all used for this budget year.”
That’s what happens when you run family owned businesses out of town or out of business. Whether the council sincerely looks for budget cuts or not, even if the tax increase is successful, the city may still have to get used to working with less. Get used to it.
And what about next year? Wanna bet that nobody within the city employment gets a raise next year?
When I was on the board of the Excel science museum, we went to great lengths to find donors among businesses in our community. But going to a shrinking group of donors, corporate and private, year after year, wore them out, and Excel had to close its doors. This was a tragic outcome for the young people and school groups who came in to the only science center in the area. It seems that you need a fund-drive to raise enough money that you don’t have to go back year after year to the same community: enough money to operate off the interest, at least in large part.
There are so many groups with their hands out, and so few donors. Tim is right, the big corporations, being assaulted by every charity in town and then some, have to ration out their donations. This is why I think there should be a mandatory entrance fee to the Zoo. A $1 or $2 entrance fee is modest, and if the Zoo were to restore its animal stock, most people wouldn’t hesitate to pay something.
Tim:
Those so-called major donors have donated to major organizations or places where they will be publicly memorialized, such as Salisbury University. Contribution to local projects and things such as the Zoo suffers.
So who’s going to pick up where they left off? Was my point. I would bet that in the future Perdue merges with Tyson, what’s Tyson done for the region? Seidel and Hensen are history. Even if the tax hike is successful Salisbury is looking at even tougher times up ahead.
What’s the plan for that?