MILLINOCKET, Maine — Town leaders will meet Thursday to decide whether to waive foreclosure on 34 properties whose owners are behind about two years on $40,002 in property taxes, officials said Tuesday.
Of the 34 properties, 32 are owned by residents facing tax-lien foreclosures for the first time, Town Manager Peggy Daigle said.
Their foreclosure date is April 3, treasurer Peggy Elliott said.
“We are hoping that people will come in and pay them [overdue taxes] before the foreclosure date so that we don’t automatically foreclose,” Daigle said Tuesday. “Otherwise, we will follow a strict process, and hopefully the town does not have to hang onto the properties.”
Daigle has made sales of tax-acquired properties a priority since summer 2013, when a cash-flow shortage threatened the town’s credit rating. Not counting the 34 the Town Council will consider on Thursday, the town has processed 72 properties, selling or collecting property tax and sewer liens and fees on 49 of them, according to a tally Daigle provided.
The town has collected about $210,863 in tax revenues or property sales since June 2013, Daigle said.
Included in the 72 properties are 12 due to be razed this spring. The Town Council voted 7-0 in September to approve the demolition work. A list of the 12 houses to be razed includes houses on nine town roads, including Aroostook, Katahdin and Penobscot avenues. The council also approved six property sales to bidders and rejected three bids.
Many of the 12 properties to be razed were taken over by adjoining landowners who agreed to tear down the derelict properties to add welcome greenspace to the town. The town also hopes to draw new investors with the foreclosed properties and thereby reverse a faltering economy and population exodus that will leave Millinocket with 2,300 residents in nine years, according to projections, Daigle has said.
The 34 properties are facing foreclosure for taxes left unpaid since the 2012-13 fiscal year, Elliott said.
“It’s disheartening to go through this year-in and year-out. It is not something that towns look forward to doing. It is something that we just need to do,” Daigle said.
The council will meet at 4:30 p.m. Thursday at the town office.