Wiscasset offers to buy Maine Yankee land

WISCASSET – The town of Wiscasset has offered to buy more than half of the 800-acre parcel that once was the home of the Maine Yankee nuclear plant.

The town wants to buy 441 acres of woods and fields for $1.3 million and then sell the land to a developer to build a technology park.

“We’d sell it as quickly as possible. The town does not want to be in the real estate business,” said Wiscasset Town Manager Larry Cilley.

Maine Yankee spokesman Eric Howes said the offer is being taken seriously, but he wasn’t sure when Maine Yankee would respond. Town residents would have to approve the money before an acquisition could take place.

In a related development, town officials said Tuesday they have been unable to come to a settlement with Maine Yankee over a tax dispute on the land. Town officials said they may take the matter to court.

The town says Maine Yankee owes more than $3 million in property taxes on the parcel. But Maine Yankee disputes the assessment, and says the land was taxed at only $1 million last year.

A special town meeting has been scheduled for Oct. 7. Residents will be asked to authorize the creation of a contingency fund – the amount will be determined later – that could be tapped in the event the town were to lose the court case.

Both sides, however, insist the town’s purchase offer and the tax dispute are unrelated.

“We have a bittersweet relationship with Maine Yankee,” Cilley said.

Maine Yankee used to pay millions of dollars in annual property taxes to Wiscasset, with the bill once reaching $12.4 million.

But taxes have fallen since the plant closed in 1997, to $2.5 million in 2000 and $1 million last year. The decline is the result of Maine Yankee’s removal of structures that were once taxable properties.

This year’s $3 million assessment is based on a new evaluation by the town’s consultant, Peter Murray, a Portland lawyer. But Maine Yankee said the number is too high.

“If the town goes forward with this, Maine Yankee will have no other choice but to vigorously contest what we believe is an unfair assessment,” Howes said.