Aud Authority Chairman: We’re Working On Nexus Project Every Single Day

The chairman of the Upper Mohawk Valley Memorial Auditorium Authority says the authority's board is working on the Nexus Center project every single day.

Speaking to WIBX 950 about the currently stalled, near $50-million sports complex, Chairman Carl Annese acknowledged the responsibility of bonding to pay for the project falls on the Aud Authority.

Approximately a year ago, the Aud Authority was looking into taxable bonds, said Annese, but that 'the county' preferred non-taxable bonds. He said when the Aud Authority began looking into non-taxable bonds, the process ultimately became upended by insecurity in the market caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Earlier in the day on the Keeler in the Morning Show, Oneida County Executive Anthony Picente said of the delay in securing the funding, ''...If that bonding had taken place at the appropriate time, we wouldn't be here....the scenario's they brought to me were just too exorbitant in interest payments and would pay three times the cost of that project, and I'm not going to put the taxpayers through that.''

Going forward, Annese said the Authority would again begin the bonding process again in the next month and believes it will take about 90 days to sell the bonds needed to fund the remainder of the roughly 170,000-square-foot athletic center.

''We need it finished. The contractor wants it finished. And, the county wants it finished. Everyone is looking for the same end result,'' Annese said.

''There needs to be a serious discussion'', by the Aud Authority to determine the best path forward, Picente said. He also added, ''We're not walking away from our commitment on the bed-tax [contribution for the project], but Oneida County was never going to bond for this.''

The contractor for the project, Hueber-Breuer Construction, is currently suing Oneida County and the Aud Authority of lack payment.

Picente said in the Keeler interview of Hueber Breuer, ''Great company, very reputable. [But] they signed onto a project that wasn't completely financed, and [Oneida County] is getting sued for what? We don't have any agreement with them.''

Meanwhile, the site is inactive, uncovered and in-complete.