Citing progress made over the last four years, the New York Racing Association reorganization board recommended Tuesday that the organization be returned to private control, though with the governor still picking the chairman.
The 16-member board, the majority of whom are appointees of Gov. Andrew Cuomo or the state Legislature, voted to recommend that the Legislature transfer control of the organization and its three thoroughbred tracks back into private hands.
It offered the legislators two privatization plans, though members said they prefer a future board structure with state appointees still playing a significant role.
Meeting in New York City, the board voted to send the Legislature two options: one in which the governor and legislative leaders would still control four seats on a 15-member board, and one in which all of the seats would be controlled privately, by NYRA’s executive committee.
Under the plan that would keep state officials involved, the governor would pick two members, including the chairman, and the majority leaders of the Assembly and Senate would each have one pick. The rest of the board would be picked by the NYRA board’s executive committee. Board members served staggered three-year terms.
NYRA was placed under state oversight for three years in 2012, and last year Cuomo extended the supervision for a fourth year. Under current law, NYRA has to submit a reorganization plan to the Legislature by next week, with Cuomo and the Legislature to make a decision on it.
Several board members, including veteran board member C. Steven Duncker, said NYRA had seen benefit from having public appointees involved in helping reorganize the association, and said NYRA would benefit from their continued involvement.
“I think having public members on the board is extremely important, both because the public members we’ve had in the 20 years I’ve been on the board have been sensational, but because they are also emissaries back to the Legislature and government,” said Duncker, a horse owner and breeder.
Board members said a fifth year of state oversight was included as a possible option at the request of state officials, though no members appeared to be in favor of that.
“I think we need to be very clear that we’re not advocating kicking the can down the road,” said John Hendrickson of Saratoga Springs, husband of Marylou Whitney and a special adviser to the board. “What keeps government from running racing forever? We need to have a conclusion.”
Both privatization options will be forwarded to the Legislature, which is expected to take the matter up sometime prior to adjourning for the year in June. Under either option, NYRA would remain a nonprofit organization whose proceeds are dedicated to racing.
“Give the Legislature all the options, then they can decide,” said acting board Chairman Michael J. Del Guidice.
Del Guidice indicated the two privatization options were developed from informal conversations with the governor’s staff and legislators.
“This is the first step in the process,” Del Guidice said. “We have done our job, now it is up to the governor and the Legislature.”
Local officials in the Saratoga region have generally called for returning NYRA to private control, saying it will allow NYRA to plan better for the future. Georgeanna Lussier, Saratoga’s representative on the NYRA board, voted in favor of privatization.
NYRA was placed under state oversight in 2011 following financial losses and a bankruptcy, allegations of mismanagement and a scandal concerning over-withholding of money on some exotic wagers. NYRA was $25 million in debt at the time.
Under the reorganization board, whose members were primarily appointees of Cuomo, the organization became debt-free in 2014. NYRA turned a profit in both 2014 and 2015. It has also invested $20 million in track improvements, including improvements in fan areas and on the backstretch at Saratoga Race Course, the nation’s oldest operating track. The current board says on-track injuries to horses have also been reduced over the last three years.
In other business, President and CEO Christopher Kay said season ticket and pass sales for the 2016 racing meet are ahead of last year’s pace, and 57 percent of potential dining reservations for the meet have already been booked.
