The beleaguered New York Racing Association (NYRA) is being accused of shoveling the horse manure – and in all the wrong directions.
Published reports say that the not-for-profit operator of Saratoga, Belmont and Aqueduct race tracks faces potential $37,500-a-day fines for each of 14 offenses at the three tracks, including polluting Jamaica Bay.
According to published reports, the violations, including seven at Belmont, were detailed in a December 21 certified letter to NYRA from the state Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC).
In July of 2009, a DEC inspector observed an illegal discharge of waste water from horse washing to the on-site storm drain system that leads to the Nassau County system. The county system leads to the headwaters of Jamaica Bay.
During the same inspection, reports say, horse manure and bedding material were observed overflowing concrete pits used to contain them until they can be trucked away.
The letter coincides with NYRA’s suggestion that it might run out of cash and have to cancel the Belmont Stakes – the third-leg of thoroughbred racing’s “Triple Crown” in June – if the state didn’t pony up a $30 million payment due when the contract to operate a Racino at Aqueduct was awarded.
In the wake of that announcement, state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli demanded that NYRA turn over their books.
When NYRA insisted in early-January that, as a non-profit, the Comptroller had no right to their financial records and the inquiry was “overly burdensome,” the sluice gates of NYRA criticism were opened.
Upstate State Senator John Bonacic, ranking Republican member of the Committee on Racing and Wagering, reportedly said that he would ask the committee to place NYRA in receivership if they did not cooperate with DiNapoli’s audit.
In a January 12 letter, NYRA agreed to cooperate with the Comptroller’s audit – which could take as long as a year, according to published reports.
Nevertheless, Brooklyn Senator Eric Adams, chair of the Racing and Wagering Committee and Senator Craig Johnson, whose district includes Belmont, have scheduled a hearing on Wednesday, February 3 at the Elmont Public Library.
The hearing, scheduled from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., will reportedly examine the business structure of NYRA as compared to other state’s racing practices, and the overall viability of the racing industry in New York. The committees will also scrutinize the accuracy of NYRA’s claims and discuss possible financial solutions.
NYRA officials say that they should take over the operations of New York’s Off Track Betting (OTB) Corporation – now in its own bankruptcy – which they say owes them roughly $14.5 million.
In addition, NYRA cites the inability of the state to select an operator for a facility to operate 4,500 Video Lottery Terminals (VLT) at Aqueduct – eight years after the enabling legislation was signed – as another reason they are cash starved.
NYRA received $30 million in cash, forgiveness of debt to the state and money to pay other creditors last year, so they could emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy on September 12, 2008. In exchange, the state got clear title to the land under the three tracks.
The $30 million was to tide NYRA over until payments by the winning Aqueduct VLT operator began – last March. That deal fell though, and after nearly 10 months a new operator has not been selected.
