The entry plaza of the San Diego Zoo. [Union-Tribune file] Meg Roussos

What started as a line of cages along Park Boulevard after the curtain closed on the Panama California Exposition a century ago has, by most any measure, grown into a world class research and tourist destination that today all but defines San Diego.

While the fledgling exhibits from 100 years past have long since given way to acres of sprawling, meticulously maintained habitat, the nonprofit organization supervising the makeover similarly has seen its fortunes soar.

The San Diego Zoo has become one of the richest charities in the region, reeling in millions of dollars a month more than it spends. As of December, the zoo reported total assets of more than $545 million, including $122 million of savings and temporary cash investments.

The nonprofit took in almost $30 million more than it spent last year, and $176 million above what it spent in the past five years, records show.

The zoo also benefits from a special tax approved by voters more than 80 years ago, a levy that is expected to generate $12 million this year alone. And its admission and membership prices are, by some distance, the most expensive in the nation among public and nonprofit zoos.

Officials from San Diego Zoo Global, as the Zoological Society of San Diego markets itself, said they rely on a healthy savings account to make sure they can meet their obligation to protect endangered and threatened animals for decades into the future.

“We have a collection of living animals we have made a commitment to caring for throughout their lifetime,” spokeswoman Christina Simmons said. “It’s good stewardship to be a strong organization and to be strong financially so we can move forward successfully.”

Kids formerly free

The crown jewel in the city’s historic Balboa Park, the San Diego Zoo and its companion Safari Park outside Escondido attract more than 4 million visitors a year, stirring hundreds of millions of dollars into the local economy every year.

According to a 2014 study by the zoo and the San Diego County Taxpayers Association, the zoo generated more than $870 million in economic activity for the region in the 2012 calendar year.

“Tourists who come to San Diego primarily to visit the zoo or Safari Park spend more than $250 million at other businesses in our county,” then-taxpayer association president Sean Karafin said at the time. “While San Diego Zoo Global employs a little more than 2,300 people, we estimate that San Diego County has 7,420 more jobs because of all the San Diego Zoo Global’s impacts.”

Tickets to the San Diego Zoo cost $50 for ages 12 and up. By comparison, the National Zoo in Washington D.C. is free; so are the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago and the Saint Louis Zoo. Adult tickets to zoos in Los Angeles and San Francisco are $20.

Admission to the San Diego Zoo for children between 3 and 11 is $40, a far different pricing strategy than what the zoo relied on for decades.

Until 1977, children under 16 were admitted free. That year, zoo officials first proposed charging kids to get inside, raising adult prices from $2 to $3 and setting children’s tickets at 50 cents if they were not accompanied by an adult or had a note from a teacher.

By 1983, adult tickets had climbed to $4.95 and children 3 to 15 were $1.50.

Zoo officials said ticket revenue is an important part of meeting the organization’s mission to promote conservation and eliminate species extinction — and visitors know that.

“We hear from guests that they feel our parks are an affordable option for visitation,” Simmons said, “and they like the fact that they are contributing to our mission to save species through their visit.”

Simmons also said the zoo works diligently to make sure students and young people can visit, most notably by offering free admission to children under 12 at both of its parks throughout the month of October.

“In addition, we offer a free 2nd grade educational program to all San Diego city and county schools, have free programs for 4th grade for (low income) schools in San Diego, develop and offer free curriculum about animal species, host hundreds of thousands of school groups each year at discounted rates, provide animal-based broadcast programming to children’s hospitals throughout the U.S. and have conservation-based programs to teach science teachers how to teach life sciences,” she said.

The cost for a family of four to purchase a membership to the San Diego Zoo good for admission for a year is $235. At other top-ranked zoos, the price is lower — $119 in Columbus, Ohio, and $120 in Omaha.

The number of annual memberships at the San Diego Zoo dropped 5 percent between 2013 and 2015, to 230,000.

Simmons said the decline in membership may be due to recent changes in the program, which now allow out-of-town fans to support conservation efforts without the discounted admission of traditional memberships.

“These programs have been very successful and many people have switched from the traditional membership to being part of the San Diego Zoo Global Wildlife Conservancy,” she said.

Depression era tax

Some taxpayers question why admission costs are so high when the zoo has more than $545 million in assets. They also wonder why the city is still subsidizing the nonprofit with millions of tax dollars every year.

View the Video Watchdog Minute: Your tax money at zoo

Voters in 1934 agreed to pay 2 cents for every $100 of property valuation as a way to keep zoo finances and operations afloat. The assessment was lowered to half-a-cent per $100 in valuation in 1981.

John Stump, an attorney from City Heights who has criticized zoo business practices for years, said the tax initiative was intended to be an emergency fix, not a permanent levy.

“It was never a tax to expand, promote and create the greatest zoo on the planet,” Stump said. “The crisis is over. I’m not saying take the money away; just use it to maintain the zoo in a way that lessens the burden on the city of San Diego.”

Stump suggested the zoo invest in stormwater upgrades to reduce pollution or help pay for a trolley stop to lower traffic congestion. Simmons said there are legal opinions that govern how the zoo can improve its 100-plus acres in Balboa Park.

The zoo’s tax revenue, which is supposed to pay for maintaining exhibits, came under scrutiny in an audit released three years ago by City Auditor Eduardo Luna.

The report said the city does not track how the funds are spent and there is little evidence of ongoing communication between the zoo and city officials about budgeting issues. Auditors also noted that the zoo’s budget only included $8.5 million a year for its “zoological exhibits fund.”

Paula Brock, the zoo’s chief financial officer, said at the time that the exhibits fund accounts for only a portion of costs to maintain the zoo and its sister attraction near Escondido.

She also said the zoo would set up a separate account to outline where the city tax revenue is spent. Simmons said the public funds are properly spent and accounted for with city officials.

One of the largest expenses at the zoo is, not surprisingly, employee salaries. The zoo paid total wages of $136.9 million in 2015, about $10 million more than 2014.

Meanwhile management salaries climbed from $2.2 million in 2013 to $3.5 million in 2014 and $3.8 million last year, tax filings show.

A significant portion of that amount was paid to Douglas Myers, the longtime president and chief executive officer. Myers received almost $780,000 in total compensation last year, a decrease from the $983,000 he was paid the year before.

Myers’ nearly seven-figure paycheck was omitted from the 2014 public tax filing posted on the zoo’s website, although it does appear on the public filing posted on charity watchdog websites such as Guidestar.com

Simmons said version of the 2014 tax filing that appears on the zoo website was posted by an outside vendor.

“We have independent auditors that upload that information,” she said.

Executive salaries are not the only rising expense.

Pension obligations have climbed steadily in recent years, with the liability rising from less than $33 million in 2013 to more than $70 million last year. Three years ago, the zoo pension was 80.7 percent funded; by the end of 2015, it held 65.5 percent of projected obligations.

Experts say nonprofits can appear wealthier than they are because donors often attach conditions to their contributions.

“Organizations absolutely love unrestricted dollars because somebody has to keep the lights on, but donors like to give to causes because it makes them feel good, so they are at a criss-cross,” said Tom Schulte, a certified public accountant and nonprofit consultant based in Los Angeles.

Schulte said the zoo’s $545 million in total assets can be deceiving because much of the amount is tied up in exhibits, property or other infrastructure — and millions more is restricted.

“It’s financially viable, I don’t think they’re at the point where they can put their feet up and say this place runs itself,” he said after reviewing the zoo’s balance sheet. “They need more unrestricted net assets, cash they can utilize.”

Zoo officials recognize they need all the money they can find. Last year, they spent $7.1 million on professional fundraising.

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