BEACON FALLS — The town has sold two parcels of land on Bear Hill Road eight years after the property owner started falling behind on taxes.
The two Bear Hill Road parcels, totaling approximately 120 acres, were sold for $200,000 at a tax auction recently. First Selectman Christopher Bielik said there was only a single bid, which the town accepted.
“It was a really good day for Beacon Falls,” Bielik said.
The town will be getting $164,177.80, the entire amount it was owed in back taxes and interest going back to 2007, Tax Collector Mary Ann Holloway said.
Holloway said that’s all the town is able to collect by law from the tax auction. The rest is expected to go to legal and other fees.
The property had been owned by a developer who was hoping to build on it, but that developer went bankrupt. The financial company that purchased the land also went bankrupt, Holloway said. The bankruptcies kept the land tied up in court while it fell further and further behind in tax payments.
The property was sold to J & L Enterprises, which owns property nearby, Holloway said.
The town had tried to auction the property on Oct. 14, 2014 as part of a bigger tax sale. But California-based Point Center Financial Inc., the finance company that owned it and had filed for bankruptcy, sent notice to the town delaying the sale.
Holloway said the town collected $228,444.86 in back taxes from the sale of five properties, including ones auctioned off in October and the Bear Hill Road properties.
“We’re happy we got it,” Holloway said.
