Below is the funding to date, related articles and my comments from a press conference held by the Democratic Caucus of the County Legislature on April 14th introducing our amendments to the local law on gifts and donations.
Just over a year ago the county legislature passed a local law allowing every donation to the aquarium be accepted without notice or further action by the Legislature. In the past few months we have seen what this has brought. Secrecy and masking of county revenue funneled into a project that is being fully paid by taxpayers after the legislature said no more funds should be appropriated to the Aquarium project.
I was at the March 2025 meetings and spoke out against the legislature passing that law due to these very concerns we are seeing today. It’s time to listen to residents and increase transparency and accountability on the aquarium project. We are drafting a revised law dealing with donations and gifts to include clearer and more frequent reporting requirements so the legislature can do our jobs and provide checks and balances on these transactions.
Our amendments will include holding the aquarium to the same standards we hold to our other friends groups and will require legislative approval for donations over $10,000.
These are common sense changes and I hope these changes will have the full support of the entire legislature and that we hold ourselves accountable to not one more dollar – be it taxes or revenue – going to the aquarium.
Aquarium Funding As Of April 2026
| Legislature Approves Aquarium 2022 | $85,000,000 |
| Legislature Approves Land Purchase 2023 | $1,705,807 |
| American Rescue Plan Funding (ARPA) | $9,011,643 |
| Onondaga Lake Fund – Honeywell Consent Decree | $2,500,000 |
| Legislature Passes Law to Accept Donations March 2025 | |
| Donations to Friends of Onondaga Aquarium | |
| From County Agency or Revenue | |
| – Onondaga Civic Development Corp (OCDC) | $1,000,000 |
| – Onondaga County Industrial Development Agency (OCIDA) | $250,000 |
| – Greater Syracuse Soundstage Development Corp | $5,700,000 |
| From Anonymous Donors | $650,000 |
| Total To Date | |
| Taxpayer Dollars: $105,167,450 | |
| Other Donations: $650,000 | |
| Total: $105,817,450 | |
| Amount Spent as of 4/10/2026 | $80,731,859 |
| Reported two-thirds complete on 3/17/2026 |
View updated information on spending on the County Comptroller’s website.
Related Articles
- Legislators surprised that secret donor to Onondaga County aquarium is … the county
- Hushed film hub donation another self-inflicted wound for the aquarium (Editorial Board Opinion)
- The aquarium gets a new name and new donors — as Onondaga County Legislature Democrats try to curtail McMahon’s power
- Democratic lawmakers push for oversight of donations to Onondaga County aquarium
