A shuttered Mexican restaurant in downtown Ellsworth will have its water shut off next week unless it pays its overdue water bill, according to city records.
It is the latest setback for Margaritas on Main Street, which has been closed since mid-May, after Maine Revenue Services cited the business for violating state tax laws.
The city of Ellsworth posted a notice on the front door of the business on Wednesday, saying water to the property would be shut off on July 16 unless the overdue water bill was paid. The amount due is $644.02, according to the notice.
The Ellsworth location is one of five Margaritas in Maine. The restaurant chain has 22 franchised locations in the Northeast, including locations in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
The Ellsworth restaurant is one of two restaurants — the other being The Grind House in Bangor — that are owned by Bangor businessman David Reesman and have run into state tax problems. The Grind House was ordered closed by state officials on May 14, the same day as the Ellsworth restaurant.
Reesman also owned a Margaritas location in Orono, which closed early this year after operating there for roughly four decades, according to Spectrum News.
Contact information for Reesman was not immediately available on Wednesday afternoon. Phone numbers listed for Reesman in a Margaritas franchise disclosure document posted online have been deactivated.
Ellsworth’s property tax records indicate that the official owner of the property at 191 Main St., which has an assessed value of $467,000, is a company called Ellsworth Investments LLC based in Racine, Wisconsin.
The Maine Department of Labor has placed several liens on the Ellsworth restaurant and The Grind House, according to records on file at county registry of deeds offices in Bangor and Ellsworth. A spokesperson for the department said last month that the liens on both businesses are tied to unemployment insurance tax debt, but declined to provide additional details due to confidentiality.
Between November 2021 and April of this year, the department has filed nine liens totaling $24,465.17 against the Ellsworth restaurant at the Hancock County Registry of Deeds.
Reesman bought and opened the Ellsworth restaurant in 2020 after another Mexican restaurant, The Mex, shut down the previous fall after operating at the same address for 30 years.