Cuomo’s budget pitch will include privatization of NYRA
(AP)
Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s executive budget proposal will include the privatization of the New York Racing Association, which has been controlled by state appointees since 2012, according to a source with knowledge of the plan.
According to a summary, the governor’s budget proposal would re-establish a privately controlled board of directors for NYRA — a change that could occur immediately after the budget is passed.
The news comes as the state Senate’s Racing, Gaming and Wagering Committee is scheduled to hold a noon Tuesday hearing on the question of NYRA’s future.
The proposal will also increase oversight by enhancing the powers of the state Franchise Oversight Board.
“Under certain circumstances, the FOB could require an independent financial review of NYRA finances, a corrective action plan, and would be authorized to encumber racing support payments,” according to the summary.
Also, NYRA would be authorized to conduct racing after sunset and to reduce racing during the winter meet at Aqueduct Racetrack “under certain circumstances.”
Cuomo and lawmakers have already pushed back the deadline for privatization once, pushing back an initially set 2015 end to state control.
Last summer, a former Cuomo official criticized the governor for rejecting a re-privatization plan that was passed by lawmakers but pulled back under a veto threat.
“It doesn’t make any sense,” said Bennett Liebman, who was Cuomo’s deputy secretary in charge of gaming and racing from 2011 to 2014.
Turning NYRA back to private nonprofit profit status looked like a victory for the governor, Liebman said. “The reorganization board had given him the ultimate Christmas present. He returned it to profitability and he could get out of racing,” he said at a conference last summer in Saratoga Springs.
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