by Paul Post

New York Racing Association has been given a new extension to keep operating through August 28 as it continues to negotiate franchise, settlement and lease agreements with the state that are needed for it to get out of bankruptcy.

The state Non-Profit Racing Association Oversight Board, which monitors NYRA’s business practices, approved the extension on Friday at the state capitol in Albany, New York.

It is the sixth temporary extension NYRA has needed since its last long-term franchise expired on December 31, 2007.

“I think we’re close to having a franchise agreement, a settlement agreement and a lease agreement,” board member Joseph Torani said. “I think it’ll get done before August 28.”

Chairman Steven Newman said, “It is going to take at least a number of weeks or a month or so to resolve. There is obviously no guarantee that it will be completed by then. On the other hand, all sides are negotiating in good faith.”

The extension was approved unanimously, but not before a brief showdown about future board decisions. The panel’s only purpose, since NYRA was awarded a new 25-year franchise in February, has been to approve extensions while the actual racing contract is hammered out.

Newman said that board meetings, which cost an estimated $5,000 to convene, are unnecessary for the cash-strapped state. That money supports video-conferencing and the board's legal expenses. Newman and James Millerman, the board’s attorney, participate via teleconference from New York City.

All state agencies have been directed to save money wherever possible, said George Westervelt, the board’s executive director.

Newman wanted the authority to approve future extensions on his own, if further extensions were necessary. Board members would be given a ten-day notice prior to an extension being granted and would be allowed to hold a meeting if they still felt one was necessary.

Newman is the four-member board’s lone Democratic appointee, named to the panel by Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan) and made chairman by former Governor Eliot Spitzer. The other three—Torani, George Sinnott, and Tim Thornton—are Republican appointees.

Torani objected to Newman’s proposal, saying that the board needs to be fully informed well in advance of potentially important decisions.

“We’re entering into a critical period of time to wind down the old NYRA and start up the new NYRA,” he said.

Once NYRA gets out of bankruptcy and its new franchise becomes official, there will be a new NYRA board and the current Oversight Board will be replaced by an entirely new group charged with overseeing NYRA’s business operations.

The Republican appointees defeated Newman’s proposal to act unilaterally by a 3 to 1 vote. The board then unanimously approved NYRA’s newest extension.

Torani also said that the board has not fulfilled its obligation of filing quarterly reports with the governor’s office this year. Newman said the board should wait until NYRA’s new franchise becomes official and all the various agreements are reached. Then the board can report on everything that has happened and make recommendations to the new oversight committee.

“I just believe it should be a close-out report,” he said.

Paul Post is a New York-based Thoroughbred Times correspondent