BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — The City of Buffalo's Comptroller's Office found in a recent audit that the Erie Basin Marina operator, Smith Boys, is paying $1 in rent each year.
At Tuesday's Buffalo Common Council committee meeting, James Marinello, with Smith Boys, and Department of Public Works Commissioner Nate Marton were both asked about this.
"We always complied with whatever the city requested," Marinello told council members.
The audit found that the contract between Smith Boys and the city requires the operator to provide 20% of net profits over $80,000, but the audit states that was never paid to the city. Marton said Tuesday there were only two years since signing a contract that Smith Boys had revenue exceeding $80,000.
"We…should be due or are due payments on that 20% of the contract so we’re gonna work on that invoicing," Marton said.
Another finding from the audit said that Smith Boys did not provide monthly financial reports to the city.
"As a department, we have not received that ongoing monthly analysis as itemized that is something that we need to make sure that we're getting," Marton said.
The audit also said that the contract requires Smith Boys to carry general liability insurance and that the insurance document could not be found, but Marton confirmed that DPW has that information.
Fillmore District Council member Mitch Nowakowski, who represents the waterfront, said this audit points to a bigger issue about the future of the marina.
"I don’t believe that the City of Buffalo should be maintaining and having holdings that we cannot either produce revenue from or maintain ourselves and so we need to look forward to having an operator at the marina who will not only invest millions of dollars in the docks because it needed but have the capacity to really make it a destination," he said.
Nowakowski said the city is losing out on significant economic development with the current operator.
Niagara District Council member David Rivera says there needs to be a plan to build up this part of the waterfront.
"It needs some infrastructure and I mean it needs to be freshened up I’m just gonna say it. I drive through it and I’m like, 'Something needs to change here,'" Rivera said.
Marinello said he agreed with everyone that the marina is "tired" and needs upgrades since it was built in 1974.
"It needs capital improvements it is very difficult to do these capital improvements when you’re technically dealing on a year-to-year contract," Marinello said, "We have ideas that we want to invest in and do for the marina and we have ways of recouping that with these visions that we have. We’ve done it before. We’ve done it at our other marinas but again we need to work it out with everybody."
