By Dawn De Busk

Staff Writer

CASCO — The Town of Casco sold 10 non-buildable lots, bringing in $115,290 in revenue. 

For the most part, the bids to purchase the tax-acquired pieces of property covered the cost of the back taxes on the land. 

More importantly,the pending purchases mean that the land will go back into the hands of taxpayers. 

There were about a dozen non-buildable parcels that the town put out to bid. Only two of those lots did not garner any interest from bidders. 

On Tuesday, the Casco Board of Selectmen awarded the various parcels to the respective highest bidders.

Chairman Mary-Vienessa Fernandes has been part of the rather lengthy process of selling the land, which included having the Casco Open Space Commission look at the list to figure out what might be advantageous for the town to keep. This involved site walks. 

At one time, one goal was to get the biggest bang for the buck byonly accepting bids that were close to half of the assessed value.

A few years ago, the board votedto set the lowest acceptable bid at 40 percent of the assessed value, she said.  

“The greater goalis to get the property back on the tax rolls,” Fernandes said. 

Casco Town Manager Anthony “Tony” Ward said he asked staff to do some research on how far back some of the tax-acquired lots go. 

“Someof the property we foreclosed on was back in 1987, almost 40 years ago,” Ward said. 

Some of the lots were located on Garland Road near Point Sebago Road, on Poland Springs Road, on Heath Road. One lot is referred to as The Island.  

“That Island is a non-buildable piece of property. It is not beneficial to the town,” Selectman Bob MacDonald said. 

Fernandes mentioned that the Heath Road lot had an assessed value of $22,000, and the bid was higher than that. 

Rather than turn-down any bid there were not more than the assessed value, the board decided to accept all the bids. 

“They are non-buildable lots. We are not giving out warranty deed. We are giving out quitclaim deeds,” Fernandes said. “And, if they want a warranty deed, it is more money.”

During its next meeting on Feb. 15, the board will review the larger tax-acquired lots that are buildable before putting those on the market for the public.