MEXICO – A mortgage-free, three-story apartment building on Route 17 could be sold next month for as little as $10,000.

That’s what Town Manager John Madigan told selectmen at Wednesday night’s board meeting regarding the 54 Roxbury Road building. Roxbury Road is also called Route 17.

Citing nonpayment of back taxes in April, the town foreclosed on the building, which was owned by Norman and Rita Hutchinson of Mexico.

The town had to wait until last Friday to clear a final hurdle in the months-long process. A lawyer for the company that held a mortgage on the building filed suit in May in Oxford County Superior Court in Paris to foreclose with the Hutchinsons to get the building and named the town in the suit, Madigan said.

“They filed after the town’s tax liens had foreclosed. There was a $32,000 balance left on a $40,000 mortgage,” Madigan said.

Because Mexico had already foreclosed on the property a month prior to the suit, Madigan contacted the town’s attorney, Geoffrey H. Hole of Bernstein, Shur, Sawyer and Nelson in Portland. Hole then petitioned the court to throw out the case.

Madigan told selectmen that the Superior Court justice agreed with the town last Friday and did just that.

However, the town must wait 21 days since the case ended to learn if the mortgage company intends to appeal the decision. If it doesn’t, Madigan advised the board that the town can sell the property because Mexico doesn’t want to be in the business of owning rental apartments.

“The town has never gone to court before over a foreclosure until now. We were just trying to get our tax money. We would never take physical possession, but the law says we could. If we do, though, we’d be responsible for insurance and liability,” he said on Wednesday afternoon in the town office.

So, to recoup four years of taxes owed, plus $2,000 in legal fees and any outstanding sewer and water bills, Madigan said the minimum bid on the property would be in the $10,000 range.