Welcome to the Fresno County Zoo Authority

Next meeting: No December meeting. Next meeting on February 24, 2010, at 9:00 a.m.
Location: Fresno County Employees' Retirement Association Building, 1111 H. Street, Fresno, CA 93721

--The Fresno County Zoo Authority is the public agency responsible for the administration of Measure Z, the unique transactions and use tax (sales tax) which is collected throughout Fresno County for the support of the Chaffee Zoo in the City of Fresno. The sales tax, at the rate of 0.1%, is collected by retailers and sent to the State Board of Equalization (BOE). The BOE then deducts its administrative fee and forwards the remaining revenue (about $10 million per year) to the Zoo Authority.

The Zoo Authority may spend up to 2% of the revenue for its own administrative expenses. Of the remaining 98%, at least 2/3 must be spent on capital improvement projects at the Zoo, and up to 1/3 may be spent on operations and maintenance at the Zoo.

The Zoo Authority is governed by a seven-member board. This board consists of six qualified electors (Fresno County voters) who are appointed by the Fresno County Board of Supervisors, plus the Mayor of Fresno. One of the appointed members must have expertise in zoo matters, and is nominated by the Chair of the Board of Supervisors for the same (one-year) term as the Chair. The other five appointed members are each nominated by a member of the Board of Supervisors, and serve for the same (four-year) term as the nominating Board member. The Mayor serves as long as he or she is in office.

The Zoo Authority Board is responsible for the tax funds. A different organization, the private non-profit entity, Fresno's Chaffee Zoo Corporation, that took over the Chaffee Zoo from the City of Fresno on January 1, 2006, is responsible for the Zoo. The Zoo Authority and the Zoo Corporation have entered into appropriate contracts to spend the tax proceeds.