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November 07, 2008

Yanks to pay $11m in back rent

I wish my landlord moved this slow on late rent payments: New York City comptroller William Thompson today issued his audit of the New York Yankees for "stadium planning" deductions they made to their rent on city-owned Yankee Stadium from 2003 to 2006. (As you may recall, then-Mayor Rudy Giuliani gave the team a $5 million a year expense account for such costs from 2001 through 2005 - and now-Mayor Mike Bloomberg extended it for another three years through 2008.) Among the findings:

  • The Yanks owe the city $11,388,155 for "inappropriate deductions," which they've already begun paying back, and are set to complete next spring.
  • Of that, more than $9 million is for taking both their 2005 and 2006 deductions in 2005 (as allowed in their lease) - and then taking them both again in 2006 (as extremely not allowed in their lease).
  • Another $1 million is for invoices the Yanks submitted twice, including double-paying contractors, and submitting the same receipts two years in a row.
  • The team was also dinged for $50,000 in political action committee deductions that it wanted to bill taxpayers for, and $34,328 in meal and travel expenses.

No word, though, about numerous other dubious expenses I reported earlier, including gifts of crystal baseballs and other items and stadium bar tabs during the 2005 postseason. (Which were pretty hefty, if you recall how the Yanks did in the 2005 postseason.) And no word why it took two years for anybody in city government to notice the team claimed a $10 million rent credit in 2005, and then another one in 2006, when they were only allowed $5 million a year. For more on this, see the Village Voice website in an hour or two.

UPDATE: Laura Rivera of the comptroller's office just got back to me, saying, "Only demonstrable planning costs were allowed. Items such as the widely reported crystal baseballs were not included by the Yankees/Parks as items considered to be planning costs." Still not clear on who with the Yankees or the Parks Department disincluded them or how "demonstrable" was defined - they were in the initial pile of receipts submitted by the Yanks, not distinguished from the other expenses - but if I find out, I'll let you know.

COMMENTS

Neil -

Now that Mr. Cannon is no longer a member of the House of Representatives, what impact does it have on the Subcommittee.

Mr. Cannon's love of Yankee baseball and $25 tickets surely will be missed.

Posted by Thomas on November 11, 2008 09:01 PM

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