The Columbus Zoo and Aquarium and Liberty Township are now locked in a full-on ticket fight, with the zoo asking an appeals court to shut down a per-ticket fee that helps fund local fire and EMS runs to the popular Powell attraction.
The zoo’s appeal, filed on Feb. 13, challenges a county-court ruling that cleared the way for Liberty Township to tack a surcharge onto admissions. At the center of the case is a basic question: does the state law the township is using actually cover a nonprofit zoological institution, or was it written for a very different kind of venue and business mode.
According to WBNS, the appeal names Liberty Township as the appellee and asks judges to sort out two key issues. One is whether the Columbus Zoo qualifies as a “qualifying event venue” under the statute. The other is whether the township can legally impose the surcharge on the zoo itself instead of charging visitors directly.
How the fee came to be
Liberty Township trustees voted last summer to create what they called a “Protect and Serve” charge, initially set at 1 dollar per admission and later cut to 75 cents. They relied on state legislation that gives townships limited authority to levy per-ticket surcharges to cover public-safety costs tied to big attractions and events.
The zoo quickly went to court seeking a preliminary injunction to block the fee, but a county judge turned that request down in August, allowing the township to move ahead. As reported by WOSU, that ruling forced courts to start wrestling with whether a zoo fits the law’s definition of a covered venue at all.
Township says it’s about fairness
Liberty Township officials frame the surcharge as a basic fairness issue. Local reporting notes that township leaders cite roughly 100 fire and EMS runs to the zoo last year, with costs in the low hundreds of thousands of dollars. Township Administrator Cathy Buehrer has argued that the zoo should shoulder those expenses rather than leaving Powell and Liberty Township taxpayers holding the bill. The comments were reported in coverage from The Columbus Dispatch syndicated through Yahoo.
Zoo argues the law was not written for nonprofits
The Columbus Zoo counters that the statute Liberty Township is leaning on was never meant for institutions like theirs. The organization says House Bill 315 was crafted with large concert and event venues in mind, not mission-driven, tax-exempt campuses that operate as zoological parks.
In an Aug. 6 news release, the zoo said it hosted about 1.8 million visitors in 2024 and asked the court to rule that Liberty Township lacks authority to impose and collect the per-ticket levy. The release casts the lawsuit as an effort to protect both the zoo’s nonprofit status and its conservation and education work, arguing that the fee could siphon off money that would otherwise support its mission. Columbus Zoo and Aquarium provided the statement.
What the appeal asks the court to settle
The appeal narrows the case to specific statutory questions. The filings ask whether a large, tax-exempt zoo can be treated as a “qualifying event venue” under the law, and whether a township may base a per-guest charge on overall attendance instead of tying it to a single, discrete event.
WBNS reports that the appeal filed on Feb. 13 lays out those questions for the appellate judges, setting the stage for a ruling that will likely be read closely by cities, townships, and big attractions across the state.
Legal implications
At the trial level, the judge noted that the zoo itself estimated a 1 dollar surcharge could generate roughly 2 million dollars, a figure that underscores how much money is at stake. Township officials, for their part, say the “Protect and Serve” fee is limited to covering first-responder costs, not building a new revenue stream.
The fight ultimately turns on how courts read House Bill 315, including how broadly to interpret the law’s definition of covered venues. That interpretation will not just decide this one dispute. It could influence how other tax-exempt attractions in Ohio are treated if local governments try similar surcharges. WOSU has summarized the trial judge’s view of the statute and the language that is now under appellate review.
There is no public timetable yet for the appeals court to rule. The case is expected to move forward on written briefs and legal arguments unless the zoo and Liberty Township reach a settlement. However it ends, the outcome is poised to set a precedent for how Ohio townships and large nonprofits negotiate who pays for the rising cost of local public-safety services.
