Judge lets counties’ lawsuit proceed opposing new weighted voting for WROTB
Orleans among 7 counties suing after change from 1 county, 1 vote that defined WROTB’s first 50 years
ALBION – A State Supreme Court judge ruled today that a lawsuit can proceed that challenges a new weighted voting system for the 15 counties and cities of Rochester and Buffalo which make up the ownership of Western Regional Off-Track Betting Corp.
The first 50 years of WROTB, each entity had the same vote or 1 vote for each municipality, regardless of the population.
But the state budget approved about a year ago included legislation that implemented a new weighted voting system. It gives 99 votes total, with more populous municipalities getting more votes. Erie County gets the most with 24 votes while the four smallest counties: Orleans, Wyoming, Seneca and Schuyler get 1 each.
Here is the breakdown of votes per municipality:
- Erie County: 24
- Monroe County: 20
- City of Buffalo: 10
- City of Rochester and Niagara: 8
- Chautauqua: 5
- Oswego: 4
- Steuben, Wayne, Cattaraugus, Cayuga: 3
- Livingston and Genesee: 2
- Wyoming, Orleans, Seneca, Schuyler: 1
Six of the counties filed a lawsuit against Gov. Kathy Hochul, Attorney General Letitia James, the State Senate and State Assembly.
The counties in the lawsuit are all Republican-led and include Orleans, Genesee, Niagara, Livingston, Wyoming and Seneca. Oswego also was added to the lawsuit today.
The lawsuit was filed in September in Orleans County, and that’s where a motion of dismiss the case was heard today by Judge Frank Caruso.
Joe Terragnoli, representing the Attorney General’s Office, appeared in court today with Dennis Vacco representing the seven counties.
Vacco said the case is a very important challenge, showing smaller rural counties standing up to a “power grab” imposed by the state.
“I’m a little emotional about it because I think they receive these types of shenanigans from Albany all the time,” Vacco, a former state attorney general, told the judge in court this afternoon.
The municipalities in WROTB fronted the money to start WROTB in 1973, which has returned about $245 million in profits to the municipalities. Terragnoli said the initial funding to start WROTB has been paid back – many times – to the counties.
“It’s been a very lucrative deal,” he said. “They gave loans and they were paid in full.”
That contribution never guaranteed an equal vote for perpetuity. The money didn’t purchase voting rights, Terragnoli said.
The state has the right to restructure the board with a weighted vote, he said.
Vacco said the smaller counties never would have put up the money if they had such a small voice at the board table.
He said the change could harm the smaller counties economically, especially if the four members with the most votes – Erie, Monroe, Rochester and Buffalo – get together and make a decision that could hurt the payouts to the other counties. Vacco said the four larger municipalities could go on a hiring spree, approve a capital project the others oppose, or even sell Batavia Downs.
The racetrack in Batavia has 912 video gaming machines that generate about $7 million in profits each month. WROTB also has nine OTB branches and 24 EZ Bet locations.
Vacco also said the legislation approved in May 2023 specifically targeted WROTB and not the other regional OTBs in the state – Capital OTB, Catskill OTB, Nassau OTB and Suffolk OTB.
Terragnoli acknowledged the legislation, pushed by State Sen. Tim Kennedy of South Buffalo, was partly in response to allegations of mismanagement by WROTB. The organization was faulted in an audit by State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli, who said the organization’s leadership did not properly account for $120,000 worth of sports and event tickets purchased by the company. Kennedy and others have characterized the accounting error as “corruption.”
WROTB has said there are tighter controls now for how those tickets are distributed.
The state comptroller and state attorney general also have challenged WROTB for providing fully paid health insurance coverage to some part-time board members. The organization has put an end to health benefits for new board appointees.
Terragnoli said the WROTB board didn’t do enough to self correct, which prompted the legislation with the weighted voting for the board. That legislation also removed all the board members at the time with the 15 counties and two cities to appoint either the same representatives or new ones. (Orleans County opted to reappoint Ed Morgan to the role.)
Terragnoli said the counties that have sued the state over the changes with the board at WROTB are now claiming they could be hurt financially.
“Where was the concern when the comptroller’s report came out?” he said in court about the misused tickets and perks intended for Batavia Downs customers.
Vacco also said the legislation championed by State Sen. Tim Kennedy twice failed to get through the Legislature on its own merits. It only passed when it was lumped into the state budget vote in an act of “subterfuge.”
The legislation would needed a two-thirds majority vote if it had been a standalone bill, Vacco said. It didn’t get the two-thirds threshold as part of the state budget, which is another reason the weighted-voting change should be negated, he said.
Vacco said the counties will wait for the state to file its response to today’s ruling. There also could be an evidentiary hearing in one of the next steps with the case.
