Officials at the N.C. Zoo are looking to expand and improve the zoo without all of the governmental restrictions and regulations.
They recently have hired a consultant to conduct a feasibility study to determine how privatization would work for to benefit both the park and the state. The reorganization would require that the state would still own and contribute the most money to the park but it would be operated by a nonprofit similar to the North Carolina Zoological Society.
"Seventy-five percent of all the accredited zoos and aquariums are now government-owned but are operated by private, nonprofit organizations," Deputy Director Mary Joan Pugh said. "The zoo is looking into whether that model makes sense for the zoo. We thought, with the state budget and economy like it is, that maybe this will make sense for us. The zoo would still be owned by the state, but the state would enter into an agreement to operate the zoo with a private, nonprofit organization."
Rick Biddle, of Schultz and Williams Inc. in Philadelphia, is conducting the study and will present his first findings to the zoo at the end of the month. It will determine if privatization really is a possibility for the zoo. There will be a final decision by the end of the year.
"With this plan, we would get a certain amount from the state and then the zoo would have to generate the rest. With that, the zoo would know what it's getting from the state and would be able to plan better," Pugh said.
Pugh says donors will be more willing to give to a nonprofit rather than a government facility.
The park has been run by the state since it opened in 1974. Major cities that have adopted this structure of management include Houston, Dallas, Cincinnati and Seattle.
