Jul 24
2025
A pay raise already for Byron Brown at OTB
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On the job less than a year, Byron Brown has already secured himself a raise at the Western Regional Off-Track Betting Corp.
Brown, hired as new president and CEO last fall, won a 3 percent raise Thursday, bringing his total pay to $303,850. That’s ahead of a contractual $10,000 raise scheduled to take effect in January, which will carry Brown’s total pay to nearly $314,000.
Five other corporation officials were also granted 3 percent raises by a unanimous vote of OTB’s board.
The raise Thursday solidifies Brown as the highest paid OTB leader across New York. The next-highest paid OTB CEO, in Suffolk County, earns $275,000. The raises also put Brown’s pay higher than that of his predecessor, Henry Wojtaszek, who left OTB in December earning $299,000.
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The raises also benefited Brown’s chief of staff, Steve Casey, as well as four holdovers from Wojtaszek’s administration: Scott Kiedrowski, Sean Schiano, Ryan Hasenauer and Danielle Fleming.
Their salaries adjust as follows:
- Casey, chief of staff, and Kiedrowski, chief operating officer, both paid $190,000, received $5,700 raises.
- Schiano, vice president of operations, making $142,000, got a $4,260 raise.
- Hasenauer, vice president of business development, making $130,000, received a $3,390 raise.
- Fleming, vice president of human resources, paid $110,000, got a $3,300 raise.
Retroactive to June 1, the raises for the corporate officers will cost OTB nearly $30,000 for the remainder of 2025.
The OTB board of directors on Thursday also approved a 3 percent raise for 174 lower-level, non-union employees and 12 other non-union employees. Those raises will cost the agency — which owns the Batavia Downs hotel, casino and racetrack — $167,400 for the balance of the year.
The raises follow contract negotiations with OTB’s 230 union employees in which those workers, too, were awarded a 3 percent raise.
Raises for rank-and-file employees were a stipulation of legislation enacted in this year’s state budget that saw Albany lower the “tax rate” for Western OTB by 5 percent, from 49 percent to 44 percent. That change, among Brown’s first priorities as president and CEO, is expected to save OTB $4 million annually. OTB must submit a report to the state each year about how it spends the savings.
Donate to support our nonprofit newsroomTo “promote internal equity” and “ensure consistency across all 424 employees” — according to the resolution enacting the raises — OTB found other pots of money to give non-union employees and executives raises. The state budget legislation forbids the agency from using the tax cut savings for executive raises.
“I came in at the rate that was advertised and what the market offers for a president and CEO in the gaming industry,” Brown said in response to questions about his raise. “And during my management of the corporation we’ve achieved greater success financially.”
So far in Brown’s tenure, OTB’s revenues are up, primarily due to the hotel and restaurant at Batavia Downs, according to a breakdown of OTB’s finances presented Wednesday. Distributions to the municipalities that own OTB — Buffalo, Rochester and 15 counties in Western and Central New York — are also up.
At this point in 2024, OTB had distributed $4.3 million to the local governments compared to $5.8 million so far this year. Buffalo and Rochester, as well as Erie and Monroe counties have each received more than 33 percent more from OTB compared to last year.
Board Chairman Dennis Bassett, from Rochester, declined to comment on the raises for Brown and other leaders.
Money allocated for Las Vegas junket
A raise wasn’t the only perk approved for Brown and his deputies on Wednesday: He, Casey and two other officials will travel to Las Vegas in October to attend the Global Gaming Expo, an annual gathering of casino and gambling operators. The board approved spending of $6,000 a head for the trip, or $24,000 total.
That total represents a slight savings from what an OTB delegation spent last year traveling to the same conference. Wojtaszek, Kiedrowski, Schiano and Hasenauer collectively spent $28,232 last year according to figures Hasenauer made public Wednesday.
Wojtaszek, according to the figures, spent a total of $10,997 and Kiedrowski spent $7,331. Investigative Post previously reported Wojtaszek had spent at least $7,959 in Las Vegas last year. That total included a $1,600 tab at a celebrity-chef-owned steakhouse, dinner for five.
Seeming surprised that Hasenauer publicly presented the group’s spending at that conference, Kiedrowski asserted Wednesday that the reason he and Wojtaszek spent so much was because they took the group out for dinner and drinks during the trip.
“Henry picked up everyone’s tab on one night, [and we used] my card the other night, as we normally have done all these years,” Kiedrowski said. “There’s a reason why those numbers are the way they are.”
Hasenauer noted Wednesday that the group would stay at a hotel across the street, not the conference hotel, and that $6,000 per person may represent over-budgeting.
Several board members, including Susan May, indicated they may also travel to Las Vegas but said they hadn’t made final decisions yet.
Bassett, in an interview, noted that OTB “could have better dotted the I’s and crossed the T’s” on past travel by OTB officials, part of the reason why spending on the upcoming Las Vegas trip was pre-approved and capped. Those changes were part of a “reform agenda” Brown put forward earlier this year.
“We made some mistakes in the past,” Bassett said. “We could have been a little more buttoned up. But now we’re getting a handle on it.”
Lawyers and lobbyists hired
Also at Thursday’s meeting, the OTB board approved the hiring of Michael Flaherty Jr. to be the agency’s general counsel. Flaherty worked 22 years in the Erie County District Attorney’s office, ending as acting district attorney in 2016 before losing the Democratic primary to John Flynn. Flaherty then endorsed the Republican candidate challenging Flynn ahead of the November election.
Flaherty will be paid $180,000 annually. He earned $130,000 last year as counsel at the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority.
After leaving the DA’s office at the end of 2016, Flaherty worked as first assistant district attorney in Chautauqua County and acting deputy commissioner and counsel at the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services. He joined the NFTA in 2021.
Flaherty, according to discussion amongst OTB board members Wednesday, was not the agency’s first choice for the job. Following a “nationwide search,” the agency ultimately interviewed five candidates and offered the job to one of them. That person, who OTB leaders wouldn’t name, did not accept the agency’s offer.
Brown, Buffalo board member Crystal Rodriquez-Dabney and other officials then brought additional candidates to the board, including Flaherty, whose hiring was approved after a lengthy discussion behind closed doors on Wednesday. Erie County representative Timothy Callan in particular raised pointed questions about how Brown’s administration chose Flaherty.
Callan on Thursday voted against Flaherty’s appointment but declined to comment when reached by phone.
This week’s OTB meetings also saw the agency re-up its contracts with a handful of outside lawyers and lobbyists.
The law firm Schroder Joseph & Associates was allocated an additional $100,000. To date in 2025, the firm has charged OTB nearly $39,000 in fees. That firm is representing OTB in a federal lawsuit accusing Kiedrowski and another official of sexual harassment.
Lobbying firms Masiello, Martucci & Associates and Mercury Public Affairs, LLC were also engaged, following a successful joint effort in Albany this spring to lower the OTB tax rate. Lobbyists at Bolton St. John were also added to the mix this week.
Mercury will be paid $10,000 per month through the end of the year. That contract includes a partnership with the lobbying firm of Sam Hoyt, Upstate Strategic Advisors. Former Buffalo Mayor Tony Masiello’s firm will be paid $5,000 monthly through December, as will Bolton St. John.
Callan said he abstained from voting on the contracts for Mercury and Masiello, Martucci & Associates, citing personal relationships. Seneca County representative Kyle Black abstained from voting on the Mercury and Bolton St. John contracts. Buffalo member Crystal Rodriguez-Dabney and Genesee County representative Chuck Zambito were not present to vote. Board seats for Livingston and Wayne counties are currently unfilled.
Noting that cuts included in President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act are expected to squeeze the New York State budget, Brown said hiring the lobbyists is important to ensure OTB’s legislative priorities are considered seriously. He noted that early-stage discussions about next year’s state budget have already begun.
“I believe we’re going to need more fire power this year,” he said. “We do not want to get a late start. This is not going to be an easy year in Albany.”
Editor’s note: This story was updated to reflect that the leader of the Suffolk County OTB earns $275,000 annually.
