A judge has ruled that Liberty Township can start charging a $1 fee on Columbus Zoo and Aquarium tickets to help pay for fire and EMS service to the zoo.
The zoo filed a motion in the Delaware County case to prevent the township from collecting.
Liberty Township trustees voted last year to establish the fee, which was $1 per ticket at first, then reduced to $0.75. The township provided fire and EMS services worth $260,000 to the zoo in 2024.
In his ruling, visiting Judge Richard Frye noted that the zoo calculated the $1 fee would generate $2 million for the township.
The zoo has argued that state law prevents the township from collecting what the township is calling the "Protect and Serve Fee" because it is not a qualifying event venue as defined by state law.
Frye ruled that the zoo does qualify.
In his opinion, Frye wrote that "a permanent facility on land which is tax exempt, but has a capacity of at least 2,000 attendees, and which is both a zoo and an entertainment venue or similar space actually used for public music concerts, boat rides, weddings, business meetings and diverse other amusements and events is a 'qualifying event venue,'" Frye wrote.
“We’re grateful the court ruled so clearly: the Columbus Zoo must pay the Protect and Serve Fee to cover the hundreds of thousands of dollars in Fire and EMS services it uses, rather than passing those costs to Liberty Township and Powell taxpayers,” Liberty Township Administrator Cathy Buehrer said in a statement.
“We implemented this fee solely to cover the township’s first responder expenses—nothing more," Buehrer said. "We’ve tried to sit down with the zoo to get accurate attendance data so we can ensure the fee is precise and avoid overcharging, but they’ve consistently refused to provide actual attendance data or even talk with us. Now that the court has definitively ruled against them, we hope the zoo will finally be willing to sit down with us.”
WOSU has reached out to zoo officials for comment.
