Onondaga County lawmakers appear ready to distance themselves from approving additional funds for completing the controversial aquarium at Syracuse’s Inner Harbor. The legislature wants the responsibility to lie solely with the county executive.
The cost to build the aquarium is exceeding the 85 million dollars narrowly allocated by lawmakers in 2022. County Attorney Ben Yaus told the legislature’s Ways and Means Committee Wednesday he wrote the local law to reflect their desires.
“Driving the point home with conversations with the chairman and the body to get the point across that it is this legislature's intent not to appropriate any additional monies for the aquarium," Yaus said.
The law allows the county’s chief fiscal officer to accept and appropriate donations of any amount to the aquarium, including naming sponsorships. The CFO must report those donations to the legislature, but not necessarily the names of the benefactors who may want to remain anonymous. Democratic lawmaker Charles Garland has concerns this could lead to political favors.
“With some of the larger donations, I think we want to avoid either contractors, developers," Garland said. "Is there an opportunity where they might donate money anonymously and we don't know about it and maybe win a bid or a contract? That would be my worry.”
Deputy County Executive Brian Donnelly reassured Garland there’s a foundation in place to keep tabs on donations.
"The (Friends of the Aquarium) foundation has a board, and the foundation has a legal counsel, so they can certainly review anything that comes in. And if they had a concern, they would certainly address it among the board," Donnelly said.
“That's reassuring," Garland said.
Even so, the county executive appoints all members of the non-profit foundation, and several are administrative staff. Democratic legislator Nodesia Hernandez said she’s glad there’s bipartisan agreement on a mechanism to raise the additional funding.
“We also want to make sure that the project gets done," Hernandez said. "Because if you don't have the money to finish the project, then it's a waste of all of the taxpayer’s money.”
Democrats and even some Republicans on the legislature have questioned the wisdom of building an aquarium and the county’s ability to financially sustain it. Lawmakers are scheduled to vote on the fundraising measure Tuesday.
