As soon as it seemed the drama surrounding the New York City Off-Track Betting Corp. was simmering down, news of the hiring of a new $125,000-per-month president and CEO has the ongoing situation a-boiling once again

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According to an article on troyrecord.com, Greg Rayburn, who reportedly has a reputation for quickly analyzing and correcting business shortfalls, was yesterday hired on to replace former president and CEO Raymond Casey, who had submitted his resignation a day earlier.

The article has quoted Assembly racing committee Chairman Gary Pretlow as saying, “I’m incensed. I can’t think of an adjective superlative enough to describe $125,000 a month to run OTB. It’s ludicrous to be paying someone that exorbitant a salary. I can’t imagine what he could be doing to earn that. It’s the absolute wrong signal to be sending.”

The recently bankrupt NYCOTB currently owes the New York Racing Association $20 million.

The NYRA, which is NYCOTB’s largest creditor, supports the hiring of Rayburn.

“His extensive experience of improving the operations of troubled companies across a range of industries gives us confidence that he will implement a viable plan of reorganization for New York City OTB that is mutually beneficial for the state of New York and the thoroughbred racing industry,” NYRA Chairman C. Steven Duncker was quoted as saying.

(With files from troyrecord.com)