by Jerry Burke
"The horses may be fast at Belmont, but when it comes to paying taxes, the track conditions are decidedly slow," Weitzman said last week, accusing the quasi-public corporation of not paying late fees and interest on the $74,451 paid to Nassau for the racing sessions in the springs of 2002 and 2003 and the fall of 2002.
According to Weitzman, Belmont collected about $3.3 million in track admissions during those sessions and the NYRA, which runs the famous racetrack as well as the venues at Saratoga Springs and Aqueduct, is required to file tax returns to the City of New York. In turn, the city is then required to pay Nassau its share of the 3 percent sales tax.
"The law requires New York City to pay Nassau County 75 percent of taxes on racetrack admissions within 60 days after they are collected from NYRA," said Weitzman. "During 2002 and the first half of 2003, NYRA was consistently late in filing its tax returns with the city, and the city was also late in paying Nassau its share of the taxes it ultimately collected from NYRA."
Weitzman says late fees and interest, about $6,500, were not paid at all. "In this time of fiscal uncertainty, Nassau County needs every dollar it has coming to it," he said. "We call upon NYRA and the city's finance department to make these payments on time, without the county having to go hat in hand to get the money it is owed under the law."
Weitzman says NYRA's tax return filings to the city were an average of 50 days late, causing delays in the city's ability to make timely payments -- respectively, 173 days and 104 days late for each of the 2002 sessions. A portion of the spring 2003 payment was 47 days late.
The late payment charge is only the newest headache for the beleaguered NYRA. After a three-year investigation by the Justice Department, which resulted in a handful of fraud convictions for individual clerks, sources inside the Justice Department say the NYRA is close to a deferred prosecution deal in which it would accept indictments on conspiracy, tax evasion and fraud charges without going to trial.
Under the agreement, the company would be allowed to continue managing the three parks for the state, but some managers would be indicted on charges and would stand trial. The company has also agreed to pay millions in fines. In return, the NYRA will be under a type of "probation" while it cleans itself up.
Weitzman has recommended that the NYRA avoid future remittances by filing returns with the Nassau County Treasurer's office as well as the city's, pointing out that a majority of Belmont Park lies in Nassau County. Last year, NYRA made a profit of $13.7 million for the state.
