The Town of Fort Frances has issued a Notice of Seizure for close to $500,000 in unpaid taxes to 2670568 Ontario Limited, which is a subsidiary of Riversedge Developments–the current owner of the Fort Frances mill.
The Notice of Seizure was put on the entrances to the mill properties yesterday morning in an effort to protect taxpayers, according to town CAO Doug Brown.
The town was denied access to the property from the mill owner when they tried to access personal property located at the mill to sell at a public auction to recoup $489,024.51 in unpaid taxes.
“What we wanted to do was take the rolling stock because it’s still on the premises, before it leaves the community,” Brown explained.
“We have that ability under the Municipal Act. So this is a way we can sell personal property at a public auction and recuperate our tax revenue,” he added.
Due to the town being denied access by the property owner it has received legal assistance to access to the personal property on the mill site.
“The whole idea of this action is to get the property owner to pay the outstanding taxes as soon as possible,” remarked Brown.
“This is the process we can follow, one of the tools that we have available to us to protect the taxpayers of Fort Frances, so we enacted that this morning,” Brown said yesterday afternoon.
The Notice of Seizure states: “that the Treasurer or the Treasurer’s agent may, in accordance with the provisions of the Act, sell all or part of the seized personal property at a public auction to recover the taxes remaining unpaid and the costs of seizure, and you may be liable for any deficiency after any such sale.”
It also says “further take notice that you may pay the taxes remaining unpaid together with said costs, up to the date of such public auction in order to replevy your personal property.”
“And further take notice that all personal property seized has been marked, and the seized personal property is not to be removed from the Premises.”
