ZAP will have more zip next year.

Thanks to a slightly improving economy, Salt Lake County’s 22 largest cultural groups are expected to share $8.4 million in Zoo, Arts and Parks (ZAP) tax money in 2012, up about $200,000 from this year.

None of the recipients should bank on any big increases, but every little bit helps after four lean years.

“We feel lucky to be the recipient of ZAP money, especially as we continue to have financial challenges,” said Leslie Peterson, vice president of development for Utah Symphony/Utah Opera. “Having that revenue greatly assists us as we look at operating costs and fulfilling our mission.”

Her organization is pegged to receive the largest chunk of ZAP money — a smidgen more than $2 million — in an advisory committee’s recommendations Tuesday to the Salt Lake County Council.

The Tier 1 Advisory Board reviewed funding applications this year from 23 cultural groups with annual expenditures (during a rolling three-year period) of at least $320,000, said Chairman David Gee, a Salt Lake City attorney.

Only one was denied. Jazz Arts of the Mountain West fell out of Tier 1, he said, because budget cuts had reduced its expenditure average below the threshold identified in state law. It will be eligible for a smaller pot of Tier II ZAP funding, which will be divvied out later to smaller cultural organizations.

State law also dictates the formula for dispensing ZAP taxes, which the county has collected since 1997 to support cultural, artistic, zoological, botanical and recreational projects. The funds come from a voter-approved sales tax of one cent on every $10.

The tax generated as much as $10.4 million for Tier 1 cultural groups in 2007, just before the Great Recession. Revenues dropped to $7.9 million in both 2009 and 2010 before reviving a bit.

“It’s been a difficult time for the nonprofit community, especially the arts, for the past three to four years,” said Victoria Bourns, Salt Lake County’s program manager. “If the sales tax recovers, even just a little, it could mean a lot to them, giving them a cushion to do more fundraising, take a little more artistic risk.”

That’s true, said Peterson, adding that the reliability of ZAP revenue makes the Utah Symphony/Utah Opera a “more attractive organization to support. When we can tell a donor that the public has overwhelmingly supported this, it makes a decision in the donor’s mind that we’re the kind of organization they want to support.”

For Hogle Zoo, which is projected to receive just under $2 million in next year’s zoological pool of ZAP money (Tracy Aviary gets $115,000 as well), spokesman Brad Parkin said “there’s no question that ZAP funding provides significant assistance in helping the zoo provide quality care for our animals and enhance the guest experience.”

Satisfying guests is crucial, he added, since their admission fees are “an important part of our financial-support stream.”

Advisory board members have concerns, Gee said, that six leading funding recipients have documented financial problems, down from nine a year ago. This year’s list includes the Symphony/Opera, Ballet West, Hale Center Theatre, Kingsbury Hall Presents, Repertory Dance Theatre and Utah Museum of Fine Arts.

Those groups are required to give the county a “financial health plan” and to report regularly to Bourns’ team.

Peterson said the Symphony/Opera is happy to comply with that requirement.