By Howard Koplowitz
State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli said he will be taking another look at the New York Racing Association’s books to determine whether NYRA appropriately followed recommendations to become solvent, his office announced last week.
The racing association oversees Aqueduct Race Track, Belmont Park and Saratoga Race Course.
The review will examine NYRA’s response to two earlier comptroller audits, which called for significant cost reductions, including salaries and consultant fees, DiNapoli’s office said.
NYRA reported a $17 million operating loss in 2010 and is projecting to have an $11 million loss this year, according to DiNapoli’s office.
“NYRA has a history of overspending,” DiNapoli said in a statement. “I want to ensure that this is one tradition that doesn’t continue.”
Last year, DiNapoli audited NYRA and issued nine recommendations to improve its finances.
In June, the state’s Franchise Oversight Board criticized NYRA’s proposed budget, which included a more than 5 percent hike in salaries, with some executives making between $255,000 and $460,000.
In DiNapoli’s 2010 audit of NYRA, he said funds from the soon-to-be-opened video lottery terminal facility at Aqueduct Race Track will go a long way in helping NYRA’s financials.
“NYRA’s eventual receipt of VLT revenues will undoubtedly relieve a significant amount of financial pressure and produce significant benefits in areas such as capital improvements and increased purses,” the audit said. “However, these additional revenues will not negate NYRA’s fiduciary responsibility to operate in a prudent, cost-effective manner.”
NYRA has had financial difficulties for years, even warning in 2008 that it might not be able to hold that year’s Belmont Stakes unless it received a cash infusion from the state.
NYRA got the aid it needed and averted canceling the third leg of the Triple Crown.
At a Long Island hearing in 2009, NYRA President Steve Duncker said the organization’s financial woes were due in part to not being able to take bets online and facing competition for the same dollars from Off-Track Betting sites.
Reach reporter Howard Koplowitz by e-mail at hkoplowitz@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4573.
