No Raise for NYRA Discretionary Spending

A state financial oversight panel has declined to act on a request from the state-controlled New York Racing Association to raise its discretionary spending limits.

The decision by the Franchise Oversight Board was based on panel members' concerns that NYRA is still dominated by a state-appointed board of directors and not yet back in private hands, as was originally planned for late 2015. Though the staff of the oversight panel recommended approval of the more relaxed purchasing standards, two of its five members raised concerns about the request.

"To me, NYRA, until the situation changes, is basically a state-overseen organization and it ought to follow similar rules,'' said panel member Steven Newman.

Another member, Elizabeth Garvey, said the procurement rule change may make sense when NYRA returns to private control. But for now, she said, she wanted something "more narrowly tailored" for NYRA.

NYRA had sought to double the threshold for when it must competitively bid out a project from $50,000 to $100,000 and to increase its discretionary purchasing to $99,999.

The board's chairman, Robert Williams, who is also executive director of the New York State Gaming Commission, said the request would be returned to NYRA for revision.

The oversight board, created in 2008 and whose members are appointed by the governor and legislative leaders, has the authority to approve or reject all purchasing policies at NYRA.

NYRA was taken over, at the insistence of Gov. Andrew Cuomo, in 2012 for what was supposed to be a three-year period. Under another extension Cuomo and lawmakers approved earlier this year, the NYRA board will remain in state hands until sometime in 2017.

The requested change in procurement policies tabled by the board was not the only tough talk coming from the oversight panel. In a brief discussion not on the board's agenda, the members also talked about the recent settlement between the federal government and NYRA in which the racing corporation will pay a $150,000 fine for the dumping of polluted wastewater at Aqueduct Racetrack.

James Towne, a board member, called the payment "a complete waste of money" and said NYRA should now be required to report to the oversight group on environmental assessments at its three tracks. He said such reviews by a private company would have cost less than the penalty NYRA is paying the federal government.

The board did approve another step in the process to permit a number of major capital improvements at NYRA's Saratoga Race Course, a multi-year program that includes a new clubhouse, barns, and other renovations and new construction.

The board on Oct. 25 approved what is known as a "findings statement" of an environmental impact study of the Saratoga projects, though Williams cautioned that individual projects for the track are still subject to final review by the franchise oversight panel and a state parks and historic preservation agency.