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Toronto budget chief Shelley Carroll is right to be skeptical about a plan coming from the Toronto Zoo Board concerning a plan to convert dung from zoo animals into energy and fertilizer.

There's an awful lot of work to be done before this proposal can even think about asking for city money. And is it even the zoo board's job to run a plant which would potentially add to the power grid?

We're not against thinking outside the box and dreaming big, which the zoo board is certainly doing on this power plant proposal. This is an idea that could have some potential if executed properly but a healthy sense of reality also has to come into play when one is dealing with taxpayers' money.

As explained in a report to the Toronto Zoo Board of Management late last month, the plant would create power by collecting methane gas from zoo dung and other biowaste which would then push through turbines under pressure, The report said combustion would not be involved and the only residue would be the fertilizer.

That sounds nice, even though most other organic waste power plants burn the methane gas to produce the power. The plan proposed by the zoo board does not seem to realistically address the science of exactly how this plant would work, its cost to the city and the probable objections of nearby residents to such a facility.

Carroll's concerns with this proposal go beyond the suggested $13-million price tag, none of which has been budgeted by the city. She was annoyed that on the basis of this proposal, the zoo board was asking to keep its budget surplus of $600,000 this year as a down payment toward the plan. That goes against city policy that returns corporation- and agency-wide surpluses to the city which uses the money to help balance the next year's budget.

It's also pretty dubious accounting, and hardly the type of move that would instill confidence in how city government officials are dealing with our money.

Ever the optimist, however, zoo board member and Ward 38 (Scarborough Centre) Councillor Glenn De Baeremaeker believes the plan will soon draw financial support from the city. He has met with Carroll to address her concerns.

"I'd be happy to give her a good business plan and I think we've got one. Then she can make her own decision. I predict this project will go ahead because it's an absolutely fabulous project," he said.

We'll see. For now, we're glad that Carroll is keeping a tight grip on the city's purse strings when it comes to this proposal. A lot more debate and study is needed before it should qualify for any city money.