After one of the lengthier closed-door meetings in its history, the 13-member board of Prairie Meadows Racetrack and Casino approved a final bonus for recently retired CEO Gary Palmer that was big ― but not as big as it could have been.
The board’s approval Tuesday, March 3, of a $210,000 “discretionary” bonus ― combined with a $684,000 bonus for meeting 2025 budget goals and a $760,000 annual salary ― means Palmer closed out his nearly 20-year tenure at the Altoona racino with $1.65 million in total compensation for 2025. The maximum he could have made was $1.9 million.
Board Chair Steven Neville said the two-hour closed-session discussion that preceded the incentive vote reflected a desire to have more free-flowing discussion among board members before making such decisions. The bonus, he said, was based both on board members’ respect for 79-year-old Palmer as well as their other input.
Palmer, who retired at the end of December, requested the meeting on his final incentive compensation be closed under a part of Iowa’s open meetings law that allows public boards to do so when necessary to “prevent needless and irreparable injury” to an employee’s reputation.
Palmer’s employment with Prairie Meadows ended in December, but setting his annual bonus had to wait until after all of the annual financial figures were tabulated. He did not attend the meeting and could not be reached for comment.
Palmer an early advocate of Prairie Meadows
Palmer was among a small group of local leaders who spearheaded bringing a horse racing track to the Des Moines metro in the mid-1980s. The Altoona track, Prairie Meadows, struggled financially from the get-go, filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1991, and was bailed out financially by Polk County government, which owns the facility.
Palmer and others subsequently built support in the Iowa Legislature for authorization to introduce slot machines to Prairie Meadows in 1995, making the nation’s first nonprofit racetrack and casino, or racino, highly lucrative. Proceeds have been used every year since to offset the cost of local government and provide millions annually in grants for charities and public projects.
One of the most highly compensated nonprofit leaders in the U.S., Palmer, was CEO of Prairie Meadows from 2006 until his retirement, which he had repeatedly delayed.
Polk County supervisors, the Greater Des Moines Partnership, a union and a taxpayers association all appoint members to the Prairie Meadows board. Last year, amid a change in power dynamics on the Polk Board of Supervisors, a new majority made up of Chair Matt McCoy, a Democrat, and the then-newly elected Mark Holm and Jill Altringer, both Republicans, replaced the county’s existing four representatives on the board with new picks.
McCoy said at the time that complaints had persisted for years about some board appointees being too cozy with management, including Palmer. McCoy said he, Altringer and Holm wanted to pick members who were more independent to look after taxpayers’ interests.
Brian Ohorilko, who replaced Palmer as CEO this year, was given a base salary of $450,000 — less than 70% of what Palmer had been paid ― when he took over in January.
Ohorilko served from 2011 to 2023 as head of the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission, which licenses and provides oversight of facilities like Prairie Meadows, as well as setting the rules for online sports betting in Iowa. He left the commission to become a senior vice president at Prairie Meadows.
Ohorilko said Tuesday that Prairie Meadows is on target to have its best year ever, with revenues in January and February totaling almost $40 million.
The live racing season, he said, will begin May 2, the day of the Kentucky Derby, and last 75 more days under a new, three-year contract with Prairie Meadows, the Iowa Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association and the Iowa Quarter Horse Racing Association. Almost 93% of wagering at the track comes from online sports betting, but Ohorilko said he hopes to do more to generate more traffic there, especially on weekends, to bolster Prairie Meadows’ other amenities, which include a hotel and restaurant.
In an interview last year, Palmer said he had a wonderful career at Prairie Meadows and was looking forward to spending more time with his grandchildren and family.
“I’ve been so lucky,” he said. “I’m the luckiest guy in the world.”
Lee Rood’s Reader’s Watchdog column helps Iowans get answers and accountability from public officials, the justice system, businesses and nonprofits. Reach her at lrood@registermedia.com, at 515-284-8549, on Twitter at @leerood or on Facebook at Facebook.com/readerswatchdog.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Bonus brings now-retired Prairie Meadows chief’s final pay to $1.65M
Reporting by Lee Rood, Des Moines Register / Des Moines Register
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