DRF:
Cuomo to push for one-year extension of state control over NYRA board
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo intends to extend the state’s control over the New York Racing Association for another year, according to a briefing book released on Wednesday that lists the governor’s priorities for the state’s budget.

The budget briefing book contains one sentence in regard to the plan: “The Executive Budget extends the maximum term of the NYRA Reorganization Board of Directors from three years to four years.” The state’s control over the board is set to expire in October of this year, after Cuomo engineered the takeover in 2012 in response to criticism of NYRA’s operations and finances.

The extension would presumably allow the board additional time to consider options for NYRA’s three properties – Aqueduct, Belmont, and Saratoga – and its current status as a not-for-profit quasi-state agency. The options are limited by a raft of state regulations governing the association and the distribution of its revenues, and any plan to take the association private is considered impossible without a complete overhaul of the state’s racing law, including statutes governing off-track betting.

The board, which contains a majority of members appointed by Cuomo, has already begun working on a so-called reorganization plan. Recently, NYRA’s chief executive officer, Chris Kay, has said that the current plan will not include a recommendation on the future of Aqueduct, despite comments from Cuomo that the track property could be put to better use.