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March 4, 2014

Millinocket pursues 25 more tax foreclosures

Fearing dwindling municipal reserves, the town of Millinocket has initiated tax foreclosures on 25 properties in town, adding to a slate of 54 completed foreclosure auctions that have generated $120,449 for the town since last fall.

The Bangor Daily News reported that the town began issuing foreclosure notices for 62 properties on Monday, in an effort to recoup $262,798 in defaulted property taxes, sewer fees and legal expenses. The largest delinquent taxpayer in town is Cate Street Capital, the private equity firm that operates the Great Northern Paper mill in East Millinocket and has plans for a torrefied wood pellet factory at the former Katahdin Avenue paper mill site. The company owes more than $2.3 million in delinquent property taxes.

The company has temporarily stopped paper production in East Millinocket in an effort to retool the business and lobby for a bill that would allow the company to sell hydropower from neighboring dams back to the grid, which the company said could generate new revenue for the town.

The newspaper reported the latest round of foreclosures stands to put The Loon Shop at 102 Penobscot Ave. out of business, but some of the foreclosures have also attracted investment from people capitalizing on low prices. Dennis Smith, a Bermuda native who opened a tea room, antique store and apartment complex on Central Street in the late summer of 2013, said he bought the six-unit house for $13,000.

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