New York State Racing and Wagering Board

Questionable Payroll Transactions Involving the Executive Director

The New York State Racing and Wagering Board regulates horse racing and pari-mutuel betting activities in the State. We audited certain payroll transactions involving the Board’s Executive Director. The transactions covered periods when the Executive Director was also being compensated by another State entity (the Olympic Regional Development Authority, or ORDA) for services he was providing to that entity as its General Counsel. At the time of our audit, the Executive Director was a full-time employee of the Board, with an annual salary of $146,699, and a part-time employee of ORDA, where he was paid an annual fee of $24,000 for his services. We identified a number of questionable practices on the part of the Executive Director. We concluded that the Board needed to review the Executive Director’s arrangement with ORDA and ensure that he properly accounted for the hours he worked for both entities, and in particular, that he charged appropriate leave accruals when these hours overlapped or he attended functions at ORDA during his regularly scheduled Board work hours. We also recommended that the Board discontinue the practice of allowing the Executive Director free use of his Board-assigned vehicle to pursue non-Board activities such as trips to ORDA facilities. In addition, because of the apparent purposeful nature of inaccurate time records filed by the Executive Director, we recommended that the Board determine whether the matters should be referred to appropriate investigative and/or law enforcement agencies. Board officials responded that they had referred the matters to an outside agency for further investigation.

For a complete copy of Report 2008-S-174 click here.
For a copy of the 90-day response click here.