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LIVERMORE — The Board of Selectpersons on Monday night unanimously approved allowing the owners of two properties more time to pay back taxes.
Administrative assistant Amy Byron said a property on Goding Road is owned by Peter Drown Jr. of Livermore and his brother, David Drown of Houston, Texas. The town is owed $3,000 from the past three years.
“At some point between 2003 and today, David’s name was removed from the account software,” Byron said, and he did not receive the foreclosure notice. “By law, that restarts the clock. The right thing to do is to allow them to make it right.”
She said David Drown was arranging to send $1,500 overnight so she could process the payment Tuesday morning.
“It gives him 60 days to arrange for the rest,” she said.
For a Franklin Street property, certified letters sent to owner and occupant William C. Mills II have been returned unclaimed, Bryon said.
It is unclear how much the town is owed and for how many years the taxes have gone unpaid.
“This is not his first go-round,” Byron said. “He’s fully aware. It’s been an issue the past several years.”
Highway Foreman Roger Ferland said the property was not plowed most of the winter.
“He has no vehicle,” Ferland said. “He rides a bike to town.”
State law requires the town show it tried to make notification.
The Maine Municipal Association recommended a selectperson or the code enforcement officer deliver the notice, Byron said.
She said the town has options.
“We could foreclose with him living there, make whoever buys it their problem to get him evicted,” she said. “We can evict him, which costs money, then advertise and put it out to bid. We can waive foreclosure, which I don’t recommend.”
Selectperson Tom Gould said waiving foreclosure would not show good stewardship by the board.
Chairman Mark Chretien said the board should make one more effort to reach Mills.
“It’s a reasonable step to hand-deliver it, make sure,” Gould said.
Gould and Byron said they will attempt to deliver the notice Tuesday or Thursday.
pharnden@sunmediagroup.net
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