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RALEIGH - The North Carolina Zoo in Asheboro could become a larger attraction and destination for overnight visitors with changes in the way it is funded and run by the state, boosters and zoo officials say.

Long-term plans include adding an Asia continent to the zoo's existing major exhibit areas: North America and Africa. That expansion could lead to more development around the site, including a theater or hotel, zoo director David Jones told a legislative panel studying the zoo's future last week.

But administrative obstacles first need to be cleared and long-term financial plans need to be put in place.

"Zoos are odd beasts themselves in a way," Jones said. A state-owned zoo, in particular, is expected to have education and research aims while remaining an affordable attraction. At the same time, he said, it is expected to operate as a business and support itself with sales and gate receipts.

That dual character means the state zoo - a part of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources - sometimes has a hard time fitting within the confines of state bureaucracy.

For example, the zoo often needs specialized gear that is sold by just one company. But state regulations require most major purchases be put to bid. The result can mean more expense and lost time, rather than the savings authors of the bidding regulations envisioned.

Fixes for problems such as those, say members of the General Assembly's Zoological Park Funding and Organizational Student Committee, are relatively easy, requiring only tweaks to state laws or regulations.

Longer term, the zoo needs a steady source of funding to pay for repairs to older exhibits and facilities and help build new ones. As it is, the zoo goes to the General Assembly periodically for help with specific projects, making it hard to plan for the future.

"It's like a house. We've got the foundation, the walls up and the roof down, now are we going to finish it or not?" said Rep. Harold Brubaker , a Randolph County Republican and one of the committee's cochairmen.

If the zoo could become an overnight attraction, he said, it would start generating the kind of businesses that could help drive Asheboro's economy. The zoo would also produce the kind of tax revenue, such as hotel levies, that would be a boost to local government coffers. Boosting the number of visitors would make the zoo better able to pay for itself.

One option committee members could recommend would allow the zoo to put more of its gate receipts toward construction projects. Setting aside that revenue would let the zoo pay off state-issued bonds.

That plan would require taxpayers to pick up more of the tab for the zoo's daily operations, particularly salaries. And the same economic downturn that has hammered the stock market and led to higher unemployment has also depressed the amount of taxes government is collecting.

"We're just throwing the idea out there this time," Brubaker said, acknowledging the General Assembly may not want to plow more money into the zoo when funding for health care and roads will be hard to come by. "Maybe it's something we do next session, in 2010 or 2011."

Still, allowing such a change would let the zoo tackle

$123.3 million in anticipated capital needs during the next decade, including planning for the Asia exhibits that could begin in 2010.

"We do need to focus first on the existing site," Jones said. Last year's budget included money to upgrade the zoo's polar bear exhibit, and a replacement for the African Pavilion is in the works.

The zoo committee is expected to meet again Dec. 9 to make formal recommendations to the General Assembly, which goes back into session in January.

Contact Mark Binker at (919) 832-5549 or mark.binker@news-record.com