Onondaga County, zoo friends reach new revenue-sharing deal after tense dispute
Onondaga County and the zoo's friends settled a revenue split, but the gift shop fight still leaves control of zoo money unsettled.
A tense County Legislature meeting ended with Onondaga County and the Friends of the Rosamond Gifford Zoo striking a new revenue-sharing deal, but the agreement only eased part of a larger fight over who controls money tied to the county’s zoo and aquarium plans.
Under the compromise, the county will receive 20 percent of membership dues and food-and-beverage revenue in the first year, then 25 percent in each of the second and third years. The deal also includes two optional one-year extensions, giving both sides a framework that can continue beyond the initial three-year term if they choose to keep it in place.
County Executive Ryan McMahon said the agreement reinforced a long partnership and protected taxpayers, operations and future zoo projects. Friends leaders said the arrangement gave the nonprofit stability and let it keep its focus on animal care and the zoo’s mission. The new terms are meant to bring predictability to day-to-day finances at one of the county’s most visible public attractions, the Rosamond Gifford Zoo in Syracuse.
Even so, the most divisive issue was left unresolved: the gift shop. County officials say state law requires a competitive bidding process for the contract, while the Friends organization says it should keep running the store without outside competition after decades of managing it. That dispute became more charged because of the broader fight over Harborview Aquarium funding and the belief among some nonprofit supporters that the county was retaliating after the Friends declined to contribute a requested $1 million toward the aquarium effort.
Marty Masterpole, the county comptroller and a member of the Friends group, questioned the timing of the county’s move. His objection underscored how the revenue agreement, while important, did not end the underlying county-Friends power struggle. Instead, it reset the terms around membership and concessions while leaving the most sensitive question, control of the gift shop, for another round of negotiation or a possible legal fight.
For Onondaga County, the result is a partial truce over zoo finances, not a full settlement. The zoo remains a major public asset, but the battle over who controls which revenue streams and how those dollars are shared is now far more visible, and far more consequential, than it had been before.
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