Saratoga Race Course hosted a record-breaking Belmont Stakes in June, but the Spa City’s Finance Commissioner says the four-day celebration may not have generated as much revenue as some had hoped.
Saratoga Springs hosted its first Belmont Stakes as its regular downstate home undergoes a half-a-billion dollar renovation.
The four-day festival included a free concert by Blues Traveler that drew 25,000 to Broadway. The third leg of the Triple Crown on June 8th easily met Saratoga Race Course’s 50,000 fan capacity.
The city received roughly $1.8 million in sales tax collection from the month of June, as opposed to $1.76 the previous year. But Democratic Finance Commissioner Minita Sanghvi noted additional costs are cutting into potential revenue associated with the weekend.
“Our overtime for Belmont in the department of public safety was $101,578.82. And DPW was $3,070.10. And IT for the cost of senior staff at the command center was $2,117.83. So, our sales tax revenue was $81,600 and our total overtime cost was $106,766,” said Sanghvi.
Sanghvi says those figures don’t factor in hotel occupancy tax collection.
“This is not a huge windfall. Net, net we are just about breaking even when it comes to the costs to the city in terms of overtime versus the revenues that we are getting from the event,” said Sangvhi.
The Belmont is set to return in 2025.
Accounts Commissioner Dillon Moran said that next year would generate more profits for the city. Sanghvi agreed.
“You know parking revenue was supposed to start in May, which it did not, so we did not collect parking revenue for Belmont. Also, keep in mind that a lot of the Airbnb stuff, the short-term rentals that were all over the city, they collected a lot of money. So I’m not saying that the individuals in the city didn’t benefit. But because we don’t get revenue from short term rentals, we did not, as the city, benefit from that,” said Sanghvi.
The city began a paid parking program for non-residents this summer, charging $2 per hour in city-owned lots. The seasonal program will run through Labor Day. It began just after Belmont weekend after originally being proposed to start in May. As of July 16th, the latest numbers available from the city, it had created upwards of $82,000 in revenue and is expected to generate more than $250,000 in its first year.
Public Saftey Commissioner Tim Coll chimed in.
“Your point is well taken—special events are very expensive, there’s no question about that. They require police overtime. As far as the Belmont’s concerned, I felt we are very fortunate that we can leverage the help of the New York State Police, the Saratoga County Sheriffs’, a total of 15 agencies contribute to that and we don’t pay the overtime to that and that’s a very important part of our special events,” said Coll. “But I agree, wholeheartedly, I mean we have to decide as a city when we continue to have special events are we making money or losing money?”
Saratoga Chamber of Commerce President Todd Shimkus emphasizes that while the city may not have benefited to the extent some expected, the influx of more than 120,000 visitors to the track over the weekend was a boon to the region.
“We know people stayed in Clifton Park, in Wilton, in Malta, in Moreau, often times because of the price of the hotels here in Saratoga Springs. And what we do know is the revenue per available room across Saratoga County for June 2024 was up 19.2% over 2023. So, what you saw is that people didn’t just stay in Saratoga Springs. In fact, we know they stayed as far away as Albany and Lake George,” said Shimkus.
Belmont Stakes Day gambling handle was upwards of $125 million—a record for a non-Triple Crown year.
New York Racing Association spokesman Pat McKenna says the Belmont was still a success, even if that doesn’t translate to huge profits for the city.
“We feel that it is crystal clear that the 2024 Belmont Stakes Racing Festival was truly one of the most exciting and memorable weekends in the history of Saratoga which left visitors and television viewers nation-wide with an overwhelmingly positive opinion of Saratoga Race Course and upstate New York. We’re confident that that exposure is certain to generate important tourism dollars not only this summer and next summer, but for years to come,” said McKenna.
McKenna added the track is responsible for roughly 3,000 jobs and $370 million in annual local economic impact.
