DETROIT -- City officials are denying rumors that the temporary closure of the Belle Isle Zoo for budgetary reasons could become permanent.

Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick said last week that the zoo will close for the season because the city could not afford to keep it open as well as running the larger Detroit Zoo on Woodward Avenue in Royal Oak.

Kilpatrick visited children at the Roeper school in Bloomfield Monday and explained that the decision to shutter the facility was purely a dollar issue.

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"We need to really figure out what we want there, and how we would really put together or what we would do with that zoo. Not just continue to open it, and manage it and run it, and really flush money down the toilet," said Kilpatrick.

Attendance at the Belle Isle Zoo has fallen to about 10 times less than it was 15 years ago, Local 4 reported. By closing the facility, the city could realize a savings of about $500,000 this year.

Many Detroit residents have been upset by the closure of the zoo. Some community leaders have reacted negatively by the move to consolidate, at least temporarily, the zoo's operations at the suburban zoo location.

Kilpatrick said Monday that he does not want to close the zoo for good. He plans to avoid laying off workers at the zoo by having them work part time while the city figures out a way to improve the facility.

"We want to reopen the zoo, we want to reopen it right," Kilpatrick said. We want to do correct marketing, look at what should be there, look at what kinds of attractions should be there like we've done at the Detroit Zoo. And we think we have to end is this whole debate of the Detroit Zoo versus the Belle Isle Zoo."