State, county leaders call on OTB board to rescind executives' buyouts

Assemblymember Monica Wallace, State Senator Sean Ryan and Erie County Comptroller Kevin Hardwick are calling out Off Track Betting's board members and executives.

"So it is time for the gravy train country club culture to end," Hardwick said outside of OTB in West Seneca Friday.

Last month, board members voted to buy President and CEO Henry Wojtaszek and two other executives out of their contracts .

The board approved a resolution that states he will receive his full year's salary. The other two will receive a half-year's salary.

"These are the actions of corrupt self-dealing corporations whose top people think the job is to make as much money as they can for themselves," Ryan said. "Those executives, they got raises over the last few years to make it so their buyouts are even more excessive. It's corruption plain and simple."

Wojtaszek's salary is $287,000, more than Governor Kathy Hochul's current $250,000 annual pay.

"[Wojtaszek] has been the king of corruption and controversy and he just won't quit and he wants to take more taxpayer dollars with him when he walks out the door," Ryan said.

Now, these leaders are calling on OTB to rescind the severance pay packages by the board's next meeting on July 24th.

"If these packages are paid that's $500,000 that is not going to the counties and the cities for public services," Wallace said.

In 2019, Wallace passed the Severance Pay Limitation Act. It sets limits on severance pay to equal three months' salary for public employees. She said OTB is violating the law with these buyouts.

"But instead of worrying about taxpayers OTB board members and executives are treating this entity like it is their personal piggy bank," Wallace said. "We are all hoping that the board will do the right thing and rescind the contract."

OTB provided the following statement:

As always, Western OTB is focused on running the best OTB in the state. By any metric, the hard work being done at our branches, Batavia Downs, and our Board is working, and those results should be recognized. We have continually set revenue records in the last three years, and that means more critical revenue going to local governments across the region.

We’re confident in the multiple legal opinions asserting the recent Board decision on severance and compensation is appropriate and legal. It is clear we are not organized under chapter 43-a of the consolidated laws, and the Severance Pay Limitation Act does not apply.

We look forward to working with our partners in government. We hope that sometime very soon we can move past issues that have already been addressed. It’s not about politics. It’s about results, and that’s what our team has consistently delivered for years.

In a written opinion provided to members of OTB’s board on Friday, renowned attorney Terry Connors correctly points out that the state’s Severance Pay Limitation Act has no bearing on a June 27 decision by the agency’s board to renegotiate buyouts for three departing executives, including CEO and President Henry Wojtaszek.

From the OTB Board of Director’s point of view, this matter is decided and closed. We have now shifted toward finding our new leadership team.
-Dennis Bassett, Chairman of the Board of Directors, Western Regional Off-Track Betting

“When Assemblymember Wallace made her public statement that OTB was only permitted to provide limited severance payments to its executives, OTB asked me to review the issue. While I have great respect for Assemblymember Wallace, our review suggests she was wrong and cited an inapplicable statute. Nevertheless, OTB will cooperate with any agency that wishes to review the severance payments.”
-Terrence M. Connors