Adams Nearing Resolution With Truck Depot
ADAMS, Mass. — Despite the Board of Selectmen's constant frustration with a local trucking business, the board is stepping away from the issue and letting the tax collector handle it.The Selectmen have been frustrated with MJD Real Estate at the former Curtis Fine Papers mill because its failure to make good on property taxes. The location had two previous businesses go bankrupt and back taxes and sewer fees piled up. When MJD purchased the building, it attempted to wipe the slate clean but the town fought against that instead agreeing to a payment plan.
The company has previously fallen behind on the payment plan, a bill of about $2,600 a month, and has not paid its annual taxes since it moved there in 2009. However, MJD is currently caught up on its payment plan, which takes the issue out of the board's purview.
According to Tax Collector Holly Denault, the company owes about $44,000 from 2010 to 2012 in property and sewer fees. The year the company moved in, 2009, is still being debated with MJD claiming that bill is part of the back taxes and the town considering it new. There is about $38,000 owed from that year.
Denault did not want to speak about the company's finances but said she felt that a resolution is in the works. However, she did ask for the board's support if she put a lien on the property. While she does not need the board's support, she asked for it because of the complicated agreement the town reached on the back taxes.
"They have been in contact with me. There might be a light at the end of the tunnel," Denault told the board on Wednesday. "It's only this parcel, this owner that I want support on."
The board has threatened to close the business multiple times but when board members went over the paperwork they had trouble understanding the ins and out of the agreement and taxes. They asked Denault to attend Wednesday's meeting to answer those questions.
Denault said MJD is caught up with the back payments but the current taxes need to be paid. She would look at starting the lien process in July, she said.
The Zoning Board of Appeals also informed the board that the company is no longer in violation of a permit stipulation that required trucks to be parked in the back of the mill building. The trucks that are often parked in the front are not MJD's and therefore, do not fall into that stipulation, town officials said. The board also complained about trucks being parked out front.
Selectman Scott Nichols said the "new taxes" don't have to be paid all at once but he would like to see a plan to pay those before the next round of bills goes out on April 1.
"We're trying to work with a business but the town just can't carry it forever," Nichols said. "They're getting further and further into debt. We need to get another $1,500 a month."
The tone of Wednesday's discussion was strikingly different from previous meetings because of the optimism regarding a resolution from Denault and Town Administrator Jonathan Butler.
Tags: liens, property taxes,
