Onondaga County Executive Ryan McMahon says there will be an aquarium built, despite rising construction costs that are delaying the project.
McMahon did not mention the aquarium in his recent 2025 budget proposal to the county legislature, in part because he's already asked for all that he can. The legislature voted in 2022 to give $85 million to the project. McMahon said discussions at that time indicated that if the project were to go over budget, private sources of funding would be used. He said naming rights and other privately sourced funding opportunities are already in the works, to help make up the difference made with rising construction costs.
"There will be an aquarium," McMahon said. "There's no stopping the project. If I thought that we did not have money and we were not able to get the resources, we probably would stop the project -- we're going to have the money for the project."
Standing by the decision to build and operate the aquarium, McMahon said the project is about creating new growth for the county.
"The reality is, we can walk and chew gum," McMahon said. "We've proven that over the last few years. And the fact that the aquarium is, if you look at our revenue growth, we're back to pre-COVID revenue growth. which means we need to continue to invest in ourselves to drive sales tax, so that tourism, economic activity, capturing spending, just like the Amphitheater, the aquarium will help with that."
Onondaga County Legislature Chairman Tim Burtis, who voted against the project as a legislator in 2022, said the responsibility for any additional funding lies solely with the county executive.
"My opinion that he's not going to come back to us for more, so that really continues to be on the county executive to find the funding to complete the aquarium," Burtis said.
McMahon said the project is now projected to finish in late spring 2026, almost a year later than the initial proposal. He said the delay is an effort to keep overtime costs down.
