The Orrington trash incinerator owes the town nearly $186,000 in unpaid taxes.
Eagle Point Energy Center LLC has a tax bill of $176,243 for its trash incinerator at 29 Industrial Way. The bill was due before July 18, 2024, but the company did not pay it, and $9,708 of interest and mailing costs have since accumulated, according to the lien filed by the town Aug. 15 in the Penobscot County Registry of Deeds.
The facility, named Eagle Point Energy Center, is owned by Evan Coleman, who has a 75 percent stake through Northern Farms, LLC, and the town of Orrington which owns the other 25 percent. When EPEC bought the facility in February 2024, the previous owner owed Orrington $2 million in unpaid taxes.
EPEC inherited that debt, but the town allowed the new owner to pay it off over time by issuing EPEC a mortgage that included the unpaid taxes and another $500,000 the town had spent.
It’s unclear what happens when a lien is placed against a property where the town is a partial owner. A tax lien applies to all property owned by the person liable for the bill, according to Maine law.
Orrington Town Manager Chris Backman did not respond to request for comment.
“EPEC has always met its financial obligation to the Town of Orrington and will continue to do so,” Coleman said.
Monthly mortgage payments of $24,721 were required to start in July. EPEC made payments for July and August, Coleman said. Orrington previously confirmed the July payment was made and couldn’t be reached to confirm the August payment.
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The facility, which has been shuttered since foreclosure auctions in 2023, will start accepting trash as a transfer station this week, Coleman said. Currently, trash from 42 municipalities is collected and taken directly to Juniper Ridge Landfill. A transfer station collects trash and consolidates it into semitrucks to then be taken to a landfill.
Boilers at the facility need to be repaired before it can start incinerating trash again, Coleman said previously. Additional repairs to the facility are necessary after a 10-day fire in October.
This is the second lien this year against the trash incinerator on the shores of the Penobscot River. A lien was filed in April by Copia Specialty Contractors Inc. for $26,000 for unfinished work. At the time Coleman said $20,000 was already paid. It was discharged June 12, according to records in the Penobscot County Registry of Deeds.