Albany, NY – The controller’s office is trashing the lucrative deal that pays the city’s new OTB boss a whopping $125,000 a month.
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The contract signed by Greg Rayburn to take over the bankrupt horse racing parlors, and close nearly a dozen of them, is “one-sided and unfavorable to NYC OTB,” writes Charlotte Breeyear, director of contracts in Controller Tom DiNapoli’s office.
“Such an unprecedented salary needs to be justified, particularly since Mr. Rayburn does not seem to be restricted from holding other employment” in the contract, Breeyear wrote Gov. Paterson’s aide Larry Schwartz, who is chairman of NYC OTB and pushed for Rayburn to get the job
Rayburn, whose predecessor made $175,000 a year, also gets paid a month in advance, Breeyear complained.
His contract reads more like a highflying consulting agreement, and doesn’t spell out specific responsibilities or expectations, she noted. A spokesman for DiNapoli’s office said it may urge that it be canceled after a review.
“We question whether an independent contractor can serve as the CEO of a public corporation” that has significant fiduciary responsibilities, wrote Breeyear.
“I urge you to keep close records of Mr. Rayburn’s level of effort and expenses so that you can later attempt to explain the unprecedented level of compensation in this contract,” Breeyear’s letter concluded.
A new law requires the controller to approve any public authority contracts exceeding $1 million, but the office does not believe it has the authority to block Rayburn’s contract because it’s unclear how long he will work for OTB and how much he will ultimately be paid, DiNapoli spokesman Dennis Tompkins said.
Schwartz has said he does not expect Rayburn to serve more than four months.
Speaking for Schwartz, Paterson spokesman Morgan Hook said the NYC OTB board interviewed Rayburn and approved the contract, which was vetted by Paterson’s counsel’s office.
Hook said in Rayburn’s short time he has already gotten rid of a number of top managers, is working to close underperforming OTB branches and implemented an early retirement package.
“He is successfully reorganizing and restructuring NYC OTB without using taxpayer money to do it,” Hook said.
An angry NYC OTB source dismissed the controller’s office’s comments as an election year “campaign letter.”
125,000 for four months is .5 million. A lot of money for a consulting stint
Such an unprecedented salary needs to be justified, particularly since Mr. Rayburn does not seem to be restricted from holding other employment
$31250.00 a week! What will he do for that kind of money? BY firing under performing managers, and forcing other into retirement, he’ll look like a genius. He’ll say I turned things around and we’ve saved money, go to the next job with a successful stint at OTB – thanks to Albany. Patterson you’ve dropped the ball, again.
Why is OTB part of the government? Since it is, surely we as taxpayers should be seeing the profits, not seeing it spent on single salaries. For $125,000, a month, payed in advance, we should be seeing savings/ profits at least 10 times that from this position.
He says he expects him to last 4 months – I guess it will be 8, so he will collect $1M and wont need to have this funding being approved by anyone. Definitely a shady deal going on under the table for this one.
Obviously, those who are complaining have no idea what a good restructuring specialist gets paid. In several recent bankruptcy cases, the judge handling the case has approved monthly fees of $200,000 or more (plus expenses). Those who are accustomed to paying only a few hundred thousand dollars a year for incompetent public sector managers should understand what kinds of compensation really talented managers get paid.
where can i apply for this job
Reply to #6
If you have to ask, you are presumed not to have the qualifications including having a working command of corportate restructuring, at least 10-15 years as a CFO with P&L responsibility and also speak English as your mama loshon.