Ramapo Supervisor St.
Lawrence owes $27,066 in back taxes--Pattern of being delinquent
goes back 5 years
December 21, 2007
The Journal News reported today that Supervisor St. Lawrence
"racked up overdue property-tax bills of $27,066, including interest
and penalties on a rental house [he owns] in Montebello." Earlier
this year, St. Lawrence's Village tax bill owed to Montebello was
turned over to the County for collection because it had not been
paid. What the Journal did not report was that refusing to pay his
taxes on time has become a regular thing with the supervisor. The
last time he paid his town taxes on time was in 2002. Here is the
table from the Tax Office records from the Town of Ramapo. (All
information was gathered this month from Town Records.)
In 2002 there was a full
payment of 6,437.13 made on Sept. 27. The only other payment listed
is a partial payment of about 3,000 paid against 11,849.13. The Base
Paid and Total Owed for the rest of the years speak for themselves.
What happens when you
don't pay your taxes on time is explained on back of your Town and
School tax bills. You will be receiving your own bill within a
matter of weeks, and if you turn it over you will see these
procedures for delinquents:
School Tax Collection
Periods--"School taxes are received from September 1st through
October 1st without penalty. After October 1st, the Town Fee is
deleted and a 5% late penalty is added. After October 31st, the
School Tax Rolls are closed and the unpaid tax listing will be
returned to the County Commissioner of Finance. Unpaid taxes are
then re-levied onto the January County/Town tax bill with a 7%
penalty."
County/Town Tax
Collection Periods--"January 1 through 1/31 without penalty; Feb
01 through Feb 28 1% penalty; March 01 through April 2 2% penalty.
After April 2nd, the Town tax rolls are closed, and the unpaid
listing will be returned to the County Commissioner of Finance [for
collection]."
The official collection
agency for delinquents is the County, and the penalties after a year
are liens against the property and then seizure and tax auction.
To round out the tax
record for Supervisor St. Lawrence, here are copies of his Town and
School Taxes for the rental house on Route 202:
Total due for Town tax is $11,014.95 (there was a partial
payment of $3,671.67) and the unpaid School Tax is $9,937.90. We are
past the April and October closing dates, so it would seem these
have also been turned over to the County for collection.
To get the big picture on
this shameful record consider the following. The Chief Executive
Officer of the Town of Ramapo has refused to pay his taxes on time
for the last five years. When you add up the amounts presented as
due and subtract the meager payments of $2,962.29 and $3,496.83 you
get a total of $88,029.24, the amount St. Lawrence has been
delinquent paying. According to the town's rules, the entire matter
has been turned over to the collection agency, the Rockland County
Finance Department, and there's still an outstanding balance of
$27,000. Within weeks, that total will have another $14,000 added to
it with this year's Town levies. Kind of begs the question, "Will he
pay this year's taxes on time, as the rest of us are expected to, or
will he revert to form?" (We'll check back, or you can reference the
Parcel ID and see for yourself. All of our tax records are in open
public files at the Town Tax Office.)
One of the most surprising
elements of the Journal story was St. Lawrence's reaction to the
reporter's questions about these matters. "He didn't understand why
there would be an interest in his tax situation. 'You have no
legitimate stories to do?' he asked the reporter." Maybe the whole
thing is as inconsequential to him as it was to Leona Helmsley a
number of years ago.
Michael Castelluccio
Preserve Ramapo |