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WATERVILLE

Taxes unpaid; ownership of derelict building still in limbo

By Amy Calder acalder@mainetoday.com
Staff Writer

WATERVILLE -- The city technically owns the former Harris Baking Co. building on Harris Street, but the Dirigo Young Marines can get it back if they pay $13,000 within the next month or so.

That was the gist of the outcome of Tuesday's City Council meeting, at which councilors took a vote they acknowledged would not change the status of the building's ownership.

The ownership issue, a bit convoluted, is thus:

Councilors Feb. 16 voted 4-3 to waive foreclosure of the building, for which Dirigo Young Marines owe $13,000 in taxes. To prevent foreclosure, Dirigo would have had to pay 2008 taxes in the amount of $4,864, by Feb. 19. Dirigo failed to do so -- and in the meantime, Mayor Paul LePage on Feb. 18 vetoed the Council's vote to waive foreclosure.

Councilors Tuesday were faced with whether to override LePage's veto. They failed to override -- voting 1-4-2 -- with Councilor John O'Donnell, D-Ward 5, approving override; Council Chairman Dana Sennett, D-Ward 4, and councilors Charles "Fred" Stubbert, D-Ward 1, Mary Anne Beal, D-Ward 2 and Karen Rancourt-Thomas, I-Ward 6, opposing; and councilors Rosemary Winslow, D-Ward 3, and Thomas R.W. Longstaff, D-Ward 6, abstaining.

But the vote was moot, according to City Solicitor William Lee. State law says the council's original vote to waive foreclosure had to have been recorded before the foreclosure date of Feb. 19 and it was not. And a city ordinance allows the former owner of a property foreclosed on a 45-day grace period in which to pay the taxes in full; in this case, $13,000.

Floyd Smith, commander of the local Dirigo Marine group, said earlier in the day that he is trying to get a bank loan to pay the taxes and the group is trying to raise money to fix up the building.

Sennett asked whether the city or the Dirigo Young Marines has the right to be in the building at this point; Lee said the city is treating Dirigo in the 45-day period as if it (Dirigo) still retains ownership.

Smith asked to speak after the vote, but LePage said there was no sense in discussing it further. Smith earlier Tuesday issued a written statement saying Dirigo had invested more than $1,000 in the building and plans to have volunteers donate materials and fix it up. Smith balked at LePage's contention that the building is too large for Dirigo's needs.

"They don't want us to have that building," Smith's statement says. "You don't have to be in Denmark to smell the fish here."

Amy Calder -- 861-9247

acalder@centralmaine.com