Wood County commissioners refused Tuesday even to ask their constituents whether they would be willing to pay the same property tax to support the Toledo Zoo that Lucas County residents have paid for years. So much for regional cooperation to support a regional asset.
Commissioners rejected zoo officials’ request to place on November’s ballot a 0.85-mill, five-year levy that would have cost the owner of a $100,000 home 50 cents a week. A renewal of that operating levy for the zoo will appear on the Lucas County ballot this fall.
The zoo’s benefits, economic as well as educational and cultural, transcend Toledo and Lucas County. Zoo officials said they needed help from Wood County because of rising costs of animal upkeep and staff, and dwindling revenue from a deteriorating Lucas County tax base.
In a typical year, the number of Wood County residents who visit the zoo equals more than half the county’s population. Had they approved the levy, Wood County residents would have gotten one day a week of free admission, free visits by zoo staff and animals to schools and other nonprofit venues, and free admission to school groups, as Lucas County residents do.
Wood County commissioners cited calls and comments from constituents who opposed placing the zoo tax on the ballot. That’s hardly surprising, but neither is it conclusive. County residents at least should have gotten the opportunity to vote the tax down — or up — after a full campaign that allowed both advocates and opponents to make their case.
The notion that Wood County derives no benefit from the zoo is shortsighted. A study by Bowling Green State University concludes that every dollar spent at the zoo generates $6 in economic activity throughout the region — including Wood County.
Zoo officials should renew their appeal, maybe when the economy improves a bit. Then, Wood County politicians may realize that the zoo is theirs too, and might even try to convince voters that keeping it strong is in their self-interest.
First Published June 22, 2011, 4:00 a.m.
