11/12/1991 FINANCE COMMITTEE Executive Session

Home Browse Search

Finance Committee Minutes November 12 , 1991 Executive Session Jim informed the members about the Beechwood Point situation. In the 1940 ' s the town took the land for back taxes and then in 1968 it somehow got back on the tax rolls . The property was sold several times and the builder Lobel Sollows bought it and built on it and went bankrupt , and then the bank took it and went bankrupt . FDIC came in and they have a group called Recoll Management Corporation and they are the attorneys for FDIC. They decided to do a title search and found 13 of the 26 acres are still owned by the town. There are condos on the 13 acres . There are people in these condos and they can' t do anything with their property. No taxes have been paid on the property for two years . This is about $40 , 000 a year in taxes . Recoll asked what will it cost to settle . The town said $702,000 . Recoll counter-offered $26 , 000, plus back taxes . The Selectmen rejected and counter-offered for over $300 ,000 . Now Recoll has come back and they have said they will give the town the deed to the bank land on the edge of the property and $5 ,000 to replenish the fund to keep vegetation on this bankment . They also agreed to give the town $25 ,000 to do some road improvement work and the cost of a special town meeting and $26,000. They also agreed not to assess condo owners . The Selectmen rejected. Town Counsel has said the town will win because it owns the property -but the cost to litigate will be $23 ,000 and it will take four years . The people are being taken advantage of in this situation. It was the Committee consensus that the Town should get what they can and get out and free up the people in this situation. Members turned their attention to town office space . Jim noted that proposals have been received. The consensus of the committee addressing this was that Pine Tree Place was the best option. Kevin, Carol Jacobson and Jim got together and decided that $800, 000 would be a good offer. The Board of Selectmen said no that they wanted it for nothing. The bank counter-offered $1. 98 million as a turn key operation. Jim has a meeting on Wednesday and he will have more information. Jim noted that he thought that $800 ,000 might be accepted if it were offered to the bank. The other problem he noted was how do you pay for this . This would have to be an override . Of the various proposals , Jim stated that if Pine Tree could be purchased for $800,000 it was the best option, however, it was too expensive to rent . Deirdre also addressed the portable classroom option. The issue of town hall space and the various options will be addressed again when more information is available.