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CITY OF SOUTH BEND I OFFICE OF THE CLERK <br /> come available with this entrance project. We will also, finally, have a dedicated group and field <br /> trip entrance. As Aaron experienced one (1) day on our busiest field trip day, it is crazy and not <br /> necessarily safe. So as part of the $3.7 million, $1.5 million will go to finishing the entrance next <br /> year. <br /> Mr. Perri stated, I suggest we pause to talk about the Zoo before I conclude the presentation but I <br /> did want to show one(1)more slide to help people understand the mechanism for this funding and <br /> where we have come from. So,pre-2014,the City ran the Zoo in-house with their own employees. <br /> It was costing us just over$1 million in operating expenses and about$230,000 in capital expenses. <br /> We were pushing$1.3 million pre-2014 so we essentially lost that money each year. This past five <br /> (5)year agreement was structured as such from$900,000 down to $700,000 on the operating side, <br /> and then a consistent $100,000 a year in capital. So if you average that out over the course of the <br /> five (5) year agreement, we were spending $890,000 on average. The new agreement includes <br /> some continued de-escalation on the operating side from $700,000 to $250,000. That is in <br /> exchange for moving some upfront capital. The idea is that the Zoo really believes that if they can <br /> address a lot of these deferred maintenance items, that will not only attract more guests but it will <br /> attract more revenue. The Zoo is very confident that the upfront capital means more to them today <br /> than it will in operating down the road. It is incumbent on the Zoo to keep bringing those private <br /> dollars to the table because it will never cost less to operate the Zoo in the future. I show this <br /> (referencing a slide in the presentation) not only so you can understand the deal that was <br /> negotiated, but to understand we are bringing you a good deal as it will cost us less as a City to <br /> finance that package over the term of the agreement. <br /> Committee Chair White asked to pause the presentation and opened the floor to questions from <br /> Committee and Council Members. <br /> Councilmember Broden asked, That $810,000, is that inclusive of any bond expenses or fees? <br /> What does that encompass? <br /> Mr. Perri replied,That would actually increase the amount. I think the bond is just over$4 million. <br /> So you add that in there over the fifteen(15)year agreement and that is another$500,000.Dividing <br /> that over fifteen (15), we'll be looking at another $40,000 a year. That is a great point. However, <br /> it is still less than where we were before. I don't know exactly where that $1.1 million will come <br /> from but once that gets fully baked in the budget,we will bring that back. I know we could do cash <br /> as that is a small amount or there could be TIF. That is a few years down the road. <br /> Councilmember Scott stated,Karen and I were the only ones,that are here,when we approved the <br /> first (1St) plan. The idea was that private funding would come. Do you see that not coming in the <br /> way you might have expected back in 2014? The idea was that this would be worked out by the <br /> end of this agreement. <br /> Ms.Dean replied,Actually I think we've done better than what we had thought. We've raised$3.5 <br /> million in private capital investment since 2014 and that definitely shows success. We've had <br /> increases in operational revenues as well. I think as far as the upfront capital investment goes, it is <br /> in large part due to the deferred maintenance and that is tough to fundraise for. <br /> Mr. Perri stated, They adopted that from us. <br /> EXCELLENCE I ACCOUNTABILITY I INNOVATION I INCLUSION I EMPOWERMENT <br /> 455 County-City Building 1227 W.Jefferson Bvld I South Bend,Indiana 466011 p 574.235.9221 If 574.235.9173 TTD 574.235.55671www.southbendin.gov <br /> 16 <br />