The Buffalo and Erie County Naval and Military Park will lose out on $1 million in American Rescue Plan (ARP) cash originally earmarked to fund repairs to USS The Sullivans and USS Croaker.
The money was part of more than $17 million in ARP funds previously allocated to initiatives such as arts groups and community center renovations, but rolled into the city’s revenue replacement fund in the latest amendments to the city's ARP spending plan.
In 2021 the City of Buffalo was awarded $331 million in federal ARP cash to support the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. The funds must be under contract by Dec. 31 to comply with federal rules. For two weeks in a row, the Buffalo Common Council has approved the city’s last-minute amendments to the ARP spending plan in the knowledge that funds left unobligated by the end of the year must be returned to the federal government.
The dash for the deadline revealed a list of ARP-funded projects unable to be contracted in time. The council voted to allocate that money into revenue replacement instead - allowing the city to keep the cash rather than return it to D.C.
The Buffalo and Erie County Naval and Military Park was on that list, which came as a surprise to naval park President and CEO, Paul Marzello. He said the city did not inform him that the ARP cash for the naval park had been withdrawn, and only found out once WBFO contacted him to find out more.
“I didn’t even hear about it without you bringing it to my attention,” Marzello said. “That’s concerning to me.”
The money is needed to fund vital repairs to the exteriors of USS The Sullivans and USS Croaker – two of three decommissioned vessels now preserved as museum pieces at the Buffalo waterfront.
USS The Sullivans, a destroyer named after five brothers killed in action in World War II, took on water in April 2022 causing it to list. Though a temporary fix was made to stabilize the vessel, it was determined that long-term repair is needed and the naval park plans to dry dock the ship in October 2025 to ensure it stays afloat.
The city’s federal cash commitment to the naval park was included in the Brown administration's 5th amendment to the ARP spending plan back in July. In August, then Mayor Byron Brown confirmed in a press release: “I'm proud that the City also provided $1 million to help save our historic ships.”
Those city dollars were to accompany a further $20 million of federal, state and county money slated to fund the restoration of the vessels. Though the city’s $1 million contribution may seem like a relative drop in the ocean, Marzello told WBFO it was the only liquid cash for the project and was therefore “critical” to getting the repair process underway by funding the first contractors.
“Without the reservations for a dry dock and management firm, nothing starts,” he said.
The repair project is due to kick off in January 2025 with site preparation and ship-movement planning, according to the naval park’s newsletter. Marzello is concerned that a lack of cashflow could jeopardize the entire timeline of the project.
“The problem is that the dry docks aren't going to give us any preferential treatment. If a lake freighter today makes a confirmation with a dry dock that we were planning to use and they have the funds, they're going to move ahead of us, and we're going to have to wait possibly another year."
Commissioner of Public Works, Parks and Streets (DPW), Nate Marton confirmed the city has been working to contract outside specialists to help complete the restoration of the two vessels, but told WBFO they were unable to get a contract signed in time to use ARP money for the project.
“The specialization needed to restore a ship, to be able to survive the waters and to be able to tow it and get it into a dry dock is beyond a municipality. So we're looking to hire a contractor. That whole process, we just were not able to get a contract signed,” Marton said.
But it appears that the city’s call for contractors was not made in a timely manner to meet the ARP deadline. WBFO has found the City of Buffalo only issued an RFP for professional engineering and maritime services for the project on Dec. 17, with a Jan. 17 deadline – more than two weeks after the ARP cash must be obligated.
Marton said $1 million would in fact be heading to fund the restoration project, but not from the ARP fund as previously planned.
“The commitment from the city still remains the same,” he said. “We are going to have a million dollars that the city is going to commit to the ships - that is going to remain consistent. We'll get that from another source.”
Marton’s certainty was mirrored by Acting Mayor Christopher Scanlon, who made an appearance at the common council’s special session Monday, in which the councilmembers voted to approve the city’s latest amendment to the ARP spending plan just a day before the deadline.
Scanlon was adamant that organizations which lost out on promised ARP dollars - including Ujima, King Urban Life Center and the naval park - would receive money from the city another way.
“We will get those organizations their funding,” Scanlon told the council.
But when pressed on the exact budget-line the cash will come from, Marton was noncommittal and said the city will “identify the specific fund going forward.”
Along with the $1 million commitment, Marton noted that the city expects a further $6 million to become available by selling a Bond Anticipation Note (BAN) that will “cashflow the entire project.” He estimated both lump sums will be available early 2025, which would roughly follow the naval park's project timeline.
Despite the promised ARP dollars being withdrawn without notice, Marzello still hopes city officials will come through on their word that the money will come from another source.
“At this point we have to remain optimistic.”
