Judge Orders Tubroburg to Pay Up

A state Supreme Court judge has ordered a kosher food plant owner to pay nearly $167,000 in delinquent utility bills by close of business July 2.

The city of Ogdensburg can shut off water and sewer service to the plant operated by Tubroburg LLC, owned by Menachem and Schneur Bistritzky, on July 6 should the payment not be made, Judge David R. Demarest wrote in a decision released Thursday.

The judge last month signed a temporary injunction preventing the city from turning off services to the plant. Tubroburg claimed in an $11 million lawsuit filed last month that the city has charged it unfairly for services at the plant and hasn’t turned over paperwork needed to finalize purchase of the property.

The city threatened in early May to foreclose on the kosher cheese plant if the delinquent utility bills weren’t paid. The company has about 50 employees.

The judge ordered Tubroburg to pay $45,989.28 on the outstanding water bill and $120,985.15 on the delinquent sewer bill by close of business July 2.

“Clearly the attempt to thwart the city from getting paid has failed,” City Manager Arthur J. Sciorra said Thursday. “While all the matters have not been settled, it’s clear the judge wants the payments to come forward.”

Tubroburg began operating the plant, which makes “cholov yisroel” grade kosher cheese and milk, in May 2009 after the city agreed to sell the plant for a $125,000 down payment, $12,000 monthly rent for 13 months and a closing payment of up to $900,000.

The contract called for the company to purchase the plant by June 1, but the city hasn’t provided abstracts to the business to finalize the sale, the suit alleged.

While the company put its down payment in an escrow account, it subsequently missed deadlines that would have allowed its monthly rent payments to be put toward the $900,000 closing payment, city officials said last month.

“We want this business to be successful, but we can’t subsidize the operation,” Mr. Sciorra said.

Watertown attorney David P. Antonucci, representing Tubroburg, didn’t return a call for comment Thursday.