brought to you by the same people who believe that one easter sunday is better than the other ny vondt art 1 sec 3
when tracks are running across the us canada and beyond nassau otb must be open
THE NY LOTTERY NEVER VLOSES
NY SLOT MACHINES NEVER CLOSR
DITTO FOR NASSAU OTB
NASSAU COUNTY ANOTHER RNRON
Thanks for the help. The item’s below. I’d be happy to mail you a copy, if you give me a mailing address.
Claude Solnik
Long Island Business News
2150 Smithtown Ave.
Ronkonkoma, NY 11779-7348
Home > LI Confidential > Stop scratching on holidays
Stop scratching on holidays
Published: June 1, 2012
Off Track Betting in New York State has been racing into a crisis called shrinking revenue. Some people have spitballed a solution: Don’t close on holidays.
New York State Racing Law bars racing on Christmas, Easter and Palm Sunday, and the state has ruled OTBs can’t handle action on those days, even though they could easily broadcast races from out of state.
“You should be able to bet whenever you want,” said Jackson Leeds, a Nassau OTB employee who makes an occasional bet. He added some irrefutable logic: “How is the business going to make money if you’re not open to take people’s bets?”
Elias Tsekerides, president of the Federation of Hellenic Societies of Greater New York, said OTB is open on Greek Orthodox Easter and Palm Sunday.
“I don’t want discrimination,” Tsekerides said. “They close for the Catholics, but open for the Greek Orthodox? It’s either open for all or not open.”
OTB officials have said they lose millions by closing on Palm Sunday alone, with tracks such as Gulfstream, Santa Anita, Turf Paradise and Hawthorne running.
One option: OTBs could just stay open and face the consequences. New York City OTB did just that back in 2003. The handle was about $1.5 million – and OTB was fined $5,000.
Easy money.
A Wall Street rating agency has upgraded Nassau’s bond rating outlook, despite the county’s strained finances.
Standard & Poor’s revised Nassau’s bond rating outlook Wednesday from negative to stable and upheld its “A+” long-term rating, citing the county’s improved financial position.
Fitch Rating on Thursday also affirmed Nassau’s A rating and its stable outlook.
Timothy Little, an S & P Global Ratings credit analyst, wrote that during the past two years the county has improved its “budgetary flexibility” and cash management practices and no longer expects to borrow to pay property tax appeals.
“The stable outlook reflects our opinion of Nassau County’s deep and diverse economy and progress to date on its plans for restoring structural balance and improving budgetary flexibility,” Little said. “We do not expect to change our rating during the two-year outlook period.”
S & P noted in its report that Nassau had reduced its projected cash-flow borrowing by $77 million for 2017, down to $300 million.
The agency also cited preliminary estimates by County Comptroller George Maragos that Nassau ended last year with a $39.6 million budget surplus. The surplus funds are expected to go toward paying tax refunds.
Maragos’ surplus calculation uses “one-shot” measures such as reserve fund transfers and borrowed money to pay tax refunds and other expenses.
The Nassau Interim Finance Authority, the county’s financial control board, says the county cannot use borrowing proceeds or other one-time revenue sources to restore programs or provide tax relief, as such funding isn’t sustainable.
“The steps taken by my administration to fix Nassau’s finances while not raising property taxes 6 out of 7 years, tripling Nassau’s reserves and eliminating borrowing for tax certiorari has stabilized the county’s finances,” said County Executive Edward Mangano.
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But Little warned that Nassau “continues to face substantial budgetary pressure” because of its reliance on sales tax revenue, which is sensitive to the condition of the economy; rising employee costs; and deferred pension expenses that now total $232.6 million.
S & P also described Nassau’s budgetary performance and flexibility as “very weak” because of deficits in the county’s operating funds and a lack of significant growth in its reserves.
Fitch said in its report that it expects Nassau to “continue to generate roughly break-even results” and that the pace of its spending, while “modest,” is still likely to exceed revenue.
“Despite minimal reserves, the county has demonstrated adequate financial resilience, with modest annual operating surpluses or deficits throughout economic cycles,” Fitch said.
Although Mangano pleaded not guilty last year to federal corruption charges, S & P said the issue was not expected to have a “material effect on the county’s financial position” because of the oversight of the NIFA board.
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