Chalk up another embarrassment for the state of Illinois, due to the ongoing budget failure in Springfield.
Officials with the Illinois State Fair told auditors they were forced to violate the Illinois Horse Racing Act for the 2014 and 2015 fairs, due to declining purses and the inability of the State to kick in enough dollars for adequate prizes. And they urged legislators to address the problem.
Despite provisions of the Racing Act requiring a five day racing program at the Fair, officials were able to stage only four days of races in 2015. Plus, they admit that they overcharged entrants, by requiring a $300 nominating fee, which exceeded 2% of the purses as is required in the Horse Racing Act.
An Auditor General’s report released this week, says that the higher fees were charged in 16 of 36 races in 2014, and 27 of 30 races in 2015.
The report says Fair officials admitted they were forced to charge the higher fees in 2014, “due to the purses for Championship races greatly declining over the years due to less appropriations.”
2015 is the last year an Auditor’s report has been done for the Illinois State Fair. But the Auditor made a similar finding in the Fair’s previous report two years ago.
“If current budget circumstances continue, the ISF will be unable to comply with the Horse Racing Act of 1975 as it is currently written,” State Fair officials told the Auditor General. “The issue in 2015 was due to the State not having a budget; therefore, there were no additional State dollars added to any of the purses, resulting in nominating and entry fees being a substantial part of the overall purse.”
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The report stated that with no State funds added to the purses, “there were not enough Illinois-conceived and foaled horses to hold a 5-day program,” as is required by law.
The Auditor’s report hardly came as a surprise. A statement issued by the Illinois Department of Agriculture prior to the 2015 Fair warned of the shortened program.
“Horse racing at the Illinois State Fair has been reduced from 5 days to 4 days of racing due to the lack of a Fiscal Year 16 budget,” the statement said.
The Auditor General noted in the report that “failure to comply with the provisions of the Act represents noncompliance with State law.”
Fair officials promised to try and improve.
“The Department agrees with the finding,” they said, “and will continue to strive to comply while legislative remedies are being sought.”
