Another possible buyer interested in G-P mill

OLD TOWN – While state and mill officials continue to work with a group of Maine investors interested in purchasing the Georgia-Pacific Corp. mill in Old Town that closed recently, another prospective buyer also is in the picture.

“They’ve shown interest at different degrees of interest, but it’s increased lately,” Gov. John Baldacci said Thursday of the second potential buyer.

When G-P announced March 16 it was closing the Old Town facility, the company agreed to work with the state for 60 days to find a new buyer.

That deadline passed without a sale being completed, but both Baldacci and Robert Burns, a company spokesman at G-P’s Atlanta headquarters, said that negotiations were moving forward.

“We’re basically working to secure more guarantees to raise the comfort and confidence levels of G-P,” Baldacci said.

Neither the governor nor Burns would elaborate on the comment.

Baldacci said he expected to know more after this week.

“We’re kind of making sure that we have all options on the table,” he said.

When asked, the governor noted that he had no knowledge of G-P requesting a tax abatement for the mill property in Old Town.

The possibility that G-P might make such a request is a concern of city officials, who are in the process of trying to make cuts to the budget because of a loss in property tax revenue now that the mill is closed.

“We couldn’t have a better community, and we couldn’t have a better work force to work with,” Baldacci said of Old Town and the approximately 400 people now without jobs. “They know that everyone in my administration is working around the clock on this issue. We’re in this together.”