NYRA drops lawsuit intended to keep budget documents confidential

The New York Racing Association has dropped a lawsuit that sought to keep its 2011 budget documents from being released.

According to a statement released by NYRA on Monday night, the association informed the state attorney general’s office that it had withdrawn the suit and that the association “will have no further objection to the release of this information” pursuant to requests under the state’s Freedom of Information Law.

NYRA filed the suit after Freedom of Information Law requests were recently submitted by publications seeking the budget documents. The requests arose following an appearance in June by NYRA officials before the state’s Franchise Oversight Board in which the board’s chairman requested detailed financial information from the association while discussing the association’s budget for 2011.

NYRA had initially balked at providing some of the information, including detailed salary data, but a week after the meeting, NYRA’s chief executive, Charles Hayward, said that the association had made a “mistake” in refusing the request. At that time, Hayward said the association had forwarded all of the information sought by the board.