OBSERVER Photo by Jo Ward Work on the Fredonia Opera House’s was postponed due to funding from the state falling through.

The state has yet to send the village of Fredonia its $2.5 million in SmartGrowth funds leading to the construction companies leaving the Opera House upgrade job.

Fredonia Mayor Doug Essek along with village attorney Dan Gard have gone back and forth with the state as well as Montante Construction, the general contractor for the job to get this figured out.

“Bottom line is our contract will not continue without a guarantee of pay,” Essek told trustees at this week Fredonia Village Board meeting. “At this point due to the amounts of what we owe, moving forward and not knowing when the state will come through and interest rates being very, very low on revenue anticipation notes we’re looking at that route.”

The Opera House is in a critical situation right now with items taken apart and windows exposed.

These projects need to be done before winter.

“This project is at a critical point where the work cannot stop and this is the most reasonable solution at the time,” Essek added.

Essek said he has reached out to several government officials to get this rectified with the state, but has been alerted that the state is in bad fiscal shape at the moment.

“This is a contract with the state that they agreed upon too,” Trustee James Lynden said. “They need to follow up and provide us with the funding.”

Lynden went on to say that the entire $2.5 million should be bonded in the revenue anticipation note.

“The numbers that we are talking about are significant and where the job is right now is at a critical stage, so we need to do this,” Gard said. “We do have a contract with the state, that’s why the rates are so low.”

The village doesn’t know now when the grant will come through, and Gard advised not waiting because of the favorable rates the village is being offered at the moment.

Trustees EvaDawn Bashaw and Kara Christina agreed, but said only the Opera House portion should be bonded so that the village is not left holding the bag with repayment if the state reneges or takes a long time to pay.

“On our contracts we do have time lines that we’ve agreed to is just going to delay things,” Lynden said.

According to Gard, the state is looking for ways to kill projects because they don’t have the money.

It was brought up by Trustee Roger Pacos that if all of the projects the grant was intended for are not completed, the state would then back out.

“They’re looking for ways to not give us our money and I’m afraid that if we don’t go through with the project they’re going to find one,” Gard said.

The board agreed to go with a bonded amount of $1.5 million so as to cover the $1.3 million cost of the Opera House upgrade and what has so far been incurred in the Streetscape project only.

The resolution passed 4-1 with the single “nay” belonging to Lynden, who said the whole amount should be bonded.