County Confirms St. Lawrence’s Prime Backer Lebovits Owes Over $600K taxes on Patrick Farm

As reported first in the July 2 Rockland County Times print edition

Local developer Isaac Lebovits has long been known as one of the prime backers of controversial Town of Ramapo Supervisor Christopher St. Lawrence. He is the force behind the Patrick Farm development project that would build a new densely populated religious residential community, much to the consternation of neighbors zoned for the single family, residential lifestyle.

It has recently been revealed that Lebovits owes over $600,000 in property taxes to the town, county and other tax districts on the Patrick Farm property. The county confirmed the information when asked last week that initially the sum was over $700,000, but Lebovits has paid his first installment on the debt.

The county became aware of the gap in payments when Lebovits requested rent from the county. Patrick Farm also is the location of the county’s horse barns for the Sheriff’s Mounted Unit.

Recently County Executive Ed Day had issued an executive order that any vendor or property owner in debt to the county would see any payments due from the county held in escrow.

The tax debt on the Patrick Farm Parcels that are in arrears date back to 2013.  The County Executive’s Office clarified that his executive order entails ”waiting three years to go back and begin auction proceedings…we will soon be notifying all 2013 taxpayers who have not yet satisfied [their] debt that proceeding will commence in 2016.”