City explains why they ended partnership with non-profit Zoo Society

The El Paso Zoo and Botanical Gardens shared photos of six wolf pups born at the zoo in February who are beginning to venture out of their den for the first time.
(Courtesy: El Paso Zoo)

KFOX 14
by Julia Spencer
Wed, March 13th 2024 at 8:00 PM
Updated Thu, March 14th 2024 at 3:59 AM

EL PASO, Texas (KFOX14/CBS4) — The City of El Paso explained the decision to cut ties with the non-profit organization that supports the El Paso Zoo.

Dionne Mack, the deputy city manager for El Paso stated that they are ending the partnership with the El Paso Zoo Society because "it isn't 100% beneficial to both the zoological society and the city.”

On March 27, city council had a unanimous vote which led to the decision to end the contract with the non-profit.

This decision is leaving the role that the Zoo Society was responsible for in the hands of the city.

KFOX14 reached out to all city representatives about why they voted to end this contract.

Representatives Brian Kennedy, Isabel Salcido, Art Fierro, and Henry Rivera were not available to respond today.

Joe Molinar could not respond because he was not present during the meeting on March 27 to vote on the item.

Representative Cassandra Hernandez sent us a statement stating:

The decision to end the 60-year agreement between the El Paso Zoo and the Zoological Society has raised questions, but it is important to recognize that the Society will maintain its non-profit status and can explore new ways to support the zoo. I thank the Society for their work and support thus far. Through open dialogue, I am confident that we can find solutions that benefit the community and ensure the zoo's sustainability. This decision was made with the best interests of El Paso citizens and the zoo's welfare in mind, and I am optimistic about the positive outcomes it will bring.

Representative Chris Canales sent us a statement stating:

There are important financial reasons why the City Council made this decision for the appropriate safeguarding of public funds. Please trust that nobody was happy with this outcome and nobody took it lightly, but there were certain reasons that absolutely could not be ignored. I have seen some public misunderstanding of the role that the Zoological Society played at the Zoo. The Zoological Society, an independent non-profit organization, has never managed the Zoo. It has always been a City-run institution, with a budget of $10.1 million this fiscal year. All of the Zoo staff are City employees, and the City funds and carries out the Zoo’s operations and capital improvements. The Society did fundraising, sold memberships on behalf of the City, and ran a volunteer program. The Society can definitely continue fundraising for the projects that align with the Zoo, and the other functions are ones that the City is fully prepared to take on. Memberships and volunteer services will continue without interruption.

KFOX14 also spoke with city representative Josh Acevedo on why he voted to break this partnership and he stated that it was in response to taxpayer money and the money that was handled through zoo memberships.

“I voted in this in this way, because I understand the membership part and taxpayer funding," said Acevedo.

The annual membership money for the zoo was previously handled by the Zoo Society where 75% of the funds from the memberships go to the non-profit and the other 25% go to the city.

The city said what made their decision was to get 100% of those funds.

“It seemed to make more sense for us in terms of efficiency and effectiveness for us to sell our memberships and have 100% of those membership dollars come back to the zoo," said Mack.

They also say from zoo memberships alone they get around $2.9 million in funds.

For the remainder of the money that the Zoo Society raises, the city said they would instead build a model that is similar to other city organizations, such as the El Paso Museum of Art.

"We could hire a development officer to do that work. We could work with a body that is charged with doing a type of fundraising. The model that I like to talk about often is the art museum because I think the art museum foundation is an incredible work," shared Mack.

However, the funding from the annual memberships isn't the only thing that influenced the city to make this decision.

The city also stated that the Zoo Society has not been following their role in their contract since 2018.

“Their contract in 2018, required to raise $7.5 million. That was a subsidy for our master plan. Right? It was 11 projects only before those were completed. They didn't do a project. They didn't do any capital projects," said Mack.

The Interim City Manager, Cary Westin, and Deputy City Manager, Dionne Mack, had a meeting with members of the El Paso Zoo Society Wednesday morning.

Per a statement from the Zoo Society released Wednesday morning, they state that this is a step toward a new contract.

"After realigning objectives, we look forward to working with the City Manager to develop a new agreement and relationship."

However, Mack made it clear during an interview with KFOX14, that a new agreement was not on the table.

"The meeting was not to negotiate a new contract. It was a meeting to make sure we clarified what next steps were to make sure we just had a sit down meeting to talk about expectations for the zoo. The city manager clearly is wanting to make sure that once we close out this existing contract that we do leave the door open for a relationship in the future," said Mack.

The city says that the Zoo Society is still able to donate support to the El Paso Zoo, however they are sill moving forward with steps to take over major roles for the zoo.