Verrino Construction files for bankruptcy protection

Armonk-based Verrino Construction Services Corp. has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, citing declining revenues and an inability to proceed with lawsuits to collect potential revenue.

VCS declared assets of up to $50,000 and liabilities between $1 million and $10 million in a petition filed July 2 in White Plains bankruptcy court.

“Without relief of this bankruptcy filing,” VCS President Richard Verrino says in an affidavit, “debtor would be taken apart and overwhelmed by some creditors at the expense of all others.”

Verrino founded VCS in 2000 and runs the business from his home in Armonk. He has worked as a contractor, subcontractor and construction manager on commercial and residential projects in Westchester and New York City.

VCS”™ 20 largest unsecured claims total nearly $1.5 million, including $389,758 to Funding Circle USA for a business loan; $239,315 to Breeze National Inc. for demolition work; $193,876 to Independence Carting; and $189,331 to Chase bank for credit cards and a line of credit.

Verrino disputes several secured and unsecured claims. But as revenue has declined, he says in the affidavit, VCS has been unable to pay for legal matters. It lost a potential payment of $296,000, for instance, when a state court dismissed the case for his failure to appear for depositions.

His largest asset is an $890,000 claim against a bond taken out by Tishman Construction Corp. for work on the Jewish Theological Seminary in Manhattan. Several subcontractors, in turn, have filed mechanic”™s liens against VCS for work on that project.

As contracting revenues have declined, Verrino attests, he has shifted his efforts to consulting services that bring in about $21,000 a month. He pays himself about $14,000 a month, after expenses.