WHITE PLAINS – An administrative law judge has ordered that Kmart pay Westchester County $1.5 million in penalties for more than 1,500 violations of the counties item pricing law at its stores in Greenburgh and Yorktown.

The latest round of inspections by the county Department of Consumer Protection on two dates in October 2007found 52 percent of the Yorktown store’s merchandise without unit pricing and 48 percent at the Greenburgh store without unit pricing.

Over the past seven years, Kmart’s two Westchester stores had been fined 21 times for item pricing violations. Last year, the two stores were fined $20,000 for violations.

County Consumer Protection Director Gary Brown said the judge “threw the book” at Kmart because he felt they were “thumbing their nose” at the county.

Kmart can challenge the administrative law judge’s ruling in state supreme court, “but it certainly sends a very strong message to Kmart that continued non-compliance with the item pricing law simply won’t be tolerated.”