New York State Budget Details Yet to be Finalized

A key New York state lawmaker believes Albany will approve a $455 million borrowing plan to reconstruct Belmont Park as part of what is now a stalled state budget deal, but that details have yet to be finalized.

Senator Joseph Addabbo, a Queens Democrat who chairs the Senate racing, gaming, and wagering committee, said April 14 that other major pressing issues—involving criminal justice, education, and others—are still being negotiated by Gov. Kathy Hochul (a Democrat) and legislative leaders. Addabbo said the Belmont matter has not yet been fully discussed by the sides.

A state budget was due March 31; the government has been kept running via passage of two emergency appropriation measures since the April 1 fiscal year start. Lawmakers are due back at the Capitol Monday to—at the very least—pass another "extender" bill to ensure state workers get paid and other key items are funded while fiscal talks proceed. 

While there is some chatter of progress on an overall 2023-2024 state budget plan being made, much can happen between now and Monday to blow things up, or bring the sides together. 

The New York Racing Association and its allies have been pressing for the state to provide a $455 million loan to pay for major construction projects, including a new grandstand at Belmont. The plan envisions consolidating downstate New York racing at Belmont and closing Aqueduct as part of a push for new real estate development opportunities at that prime Queens location.

Hochul and Democrats who run the Assembly and Senate have already signaled, in their own separate budget plans, a willingness to loan NYRA the money for the Belmont project. But there are caveats: the Assembly plan, for instance, removes the requirement that Aqueduct must shut down once the Belmont project is completed. The Senate budget version envisions key roles in the Aqueduct process for local governments and community groups, as well as requirements that affordable housing be a part of some of the future development at Aqueduct.

Opponents of the idea include fiscal watchdogs who say New York State should not be loaning NYRA, a private entity, money for the Belmont work, while equine safety advocates opposed to horse racing say the state should cease subsidizing NYRA and others through payments from proceeds at the Aqueduct-based casino. The delay in adopting an overall budget on time this year has afforded opponents extra opportunities, especially on social media, to make their case against the Belmont project.

"I'm optimistic Belmont is in the budget. It should be in the budget. It has a huge fiscal impact, roughly $160 million in economic growth out of the project,'' Addabbo said in an interview Friday. 

Addabbo said he appreciates his colleagues in the Legislature laying out their specific desires for the NYRA plan, but that many of the details are better left to be flushed out in any future loan agreements between the state and NYRA. He noted many lawmakers don't like policy matters to be crammed into the state budget, and that the place for certain details about the loan are best handled in future loan agreements. Plans call for NYRA to pay back the loan within 20 years, and some lawmakers want written assurances that the loan will be repaid in the event NYRA does not continue to operate racing under its exclusive franchise agreement with the state. The current franchise ends in 2033.

The properties where NYRA races at Belmont, Aqueduct, and Saratoga Race Course are owned by the state. NYRA says its plan will make the state asset at Belmont far more valuable and open up a large parcel of land at Aqueduct for lucrative real estate development opportunities.

Typically in state budget talks, gaming-related issues are among the last to be settled in secret negotiations by the governor and legislative leaders. For now, history appears to be repeating itself with that historic fiscal trend.