Credit: Getty Images.

New year, new reason to repeat this mantra of government transparency: If you take taxpayers' money, you're accountable to the taxpayers for how you spend it.

The latest entity to need this reminder is the New York Racing Association.

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Yes, NYRA is not a state agency. It’s a nonprofit corporation that holds the exclusive franchise to conduct horse racing at the state-owned Saratoga, Aqueduct and Belmont Park race courses. And it receives a boatload of state subsidies to do that — effectively propping up a sport that otherwise would likely be, pardon the expression, on its last legs.

NYRA has been in a two-year dispute with the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA), the new federal entity working to standardize operations and safety rules at U.S. thoroughbred racetracks. At issue is the formula under which annual fees are calculated, and NYRA........

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