Buffalo Sabres agree to enter into $1.3M contract for arena security by Sheriff's Office

It would take care of some concerns Erie County Comptroller Kevin Hardwick has expressed over the lack of a contract between the county and Sabres for providing this service, while providing the Sheriff's Office with enough funding to cover the security needs at the arena.

But it is not yet a done deal. Hardwick and members of the Erie County Legislature said they wanted more details about the agreement before approving it and spent about an hour Thursday asking about it.

And the back-and-forth between Hardwick and the Sheriff's Office over this matter has been contentious at times.

"We're thrilled that we're moving towards an agreement," Hardwick said at the Legislature committee meeting. "We just want to make sure that we understand what this agreement is and what the financial ramifications are for the county."

Sheriff John Garcia said he believes that reaching a deal with the Sabres organization to pay more for security than they've been paying is a win for the Sheriff's Office, as well as the county and the team.

"I think at the end of the day, we did very well and we move forward," Garcia said.

"Hats off to the Sabres organization for realizing the taxpayer wanted some answers," he added. 

Last summer, Hardwick, a Democrat, highlighted concerns over KeyBank Center security provided by the Sheriff's Office for Sabres games, as well as Bandits contests and other events.

He took issue with team ownership paying the Sheriff's Office for security work, but not having a contract with the county to provide it. He also pointed out that former Republican Comptroller Stefan Mychajliw expressed similar concerns in a prior audit. 

At the time, Garcia, a Republican, agreed that it was wrong for the Sheriff's Office not to have a formal contract with team ownership for arena security, though he described Hardwick's public call for greater accountability to be needlessly political.

He also said that what Pegula Sports & Entertainment, which runs the Sabres, was paying for arena security was woefully inadequate for the amount of security that was actually provided.  

On Thursday, Sheriff's Office representatives appeared before the Legislature to seek permission to accept the money under the terms of a negotiated contract that would essentially quadruple the amount the Sheriff's Office is reimbursed for security work that Garcia said his office would be obligated to provide no matter what. It would extend through the life of the lease between the team and the county, which owns the facility.

Currently, the team pays about $120,000 a year for arena security, which is insufficient to cover security needs, said John Greenan, chief of administration for the Sheriff's Office. Under the new deal, that figure would roughly double the first year, with additional $120,000 increases added, until reaching an annual security payment that tops out at $485,000 in the 2025-26 lease year. 

Hardwick had sent a letter to the Legislature saying that while he was pleased to see a formal deal has been negotiated, he expressed concern that a draft of the agreement was not shared with the Legislature before it was asked to approve it.

Greenan said it is not typical or necessary for the Legislature to review such a contract. He also expressed concern about the contract details giving away staffing levels and security placement around the arena, which Greenan said should be kept confidential. After much discussion, he agreed to provide a redacted draft of the contract by next week.

Both Greenan and Garcia questioned Hardwick's motivations for submitting a formal letter to the Legislature asking that certain questions be answered. Garcia told The News that Hardwick was welcome to reach out to him anytime and would have likely received whatever answers he wanted, but said that Hardwick hasn't done so. He called the comptroller's letter "grandstanding."

"I’m a cop," Garcia said. "I’m not political. I just don’t understand why his letters always have this tone, but maybe I’m reading into it too much. I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt, but pick up the phone."

Hardwick responded by saying his deputy comptroller, Timothy Callan, had been in communication with Greenan about the security agreement, but Greenan stopped responding to Callan's inquiries months ago and then surprised the Comptroller's Office by submitting a security agreement request to the Legislature without any warning. He said he's happy to see a security agreement getting done.

Hardwick is also interested to know the breakdown of rank-and-file, sworn officers and top administrators and chiefs who would be eligible for overtime pay at a much higher rate, he said.

His staff later pointed out that Greenan is a major recipient of stadium overtime pay, having received $38,000 in stadium overtime pay just last year alone. Though high-ranking Sheriff's Office appointees will no longer be eligible for regular overtime starting this year, that does not preclude them from collecting stadium- and arena-related overtime pay that is reimbursed by Pegula Sports & Entertainment.

"That is a concern," Hardwick said.  

Legislator Jeanne Vinal, D-Amherst, also asked questions about any legal liability that might be incurred by the county. She and others asked about the Sabres organization hiring their own security, though Greenan said private guards or resources like a SWAT team or bomb-sniffing dogs would have no arresting authority.

Garcia said a minimum number of supervisory chiefs are needed at both arena and Bills stadium events to oversee other officers, and that it is his job to decide what staff is necessary to provide a safe environment. According to his figures, up to a third of the security may be composed of his appointees, who all receive higher pay. Garcia said he accepts people who volunteer, including chiefs, and prefers that to mandating overtime work.