NORWAY — The Norway Board of Selectmen has rejected a bid – just a little more than $1,000 – for property at 30 Dean Ave. saying they hope they can get more.

The town took the property at 30 Dean Ave. for unpaid taxes and sewer fees in the amount of $6,346.98, owed since 2007. It is a buildable lot of .29 acres valued at $7,900, according to the Norway assessors information, located in the downtown area with both town water and sewer.

Norman E. Parker of Norway put a bid in for $1016.01

The town also paid about $2,200 for an eviction process. Putting a parcel out to bid is the last resort the town takes after attempting to work with owners to try to arrange payment of back taxes.

“I’d like to think we could do a little better,” Town Manager David Holt said at the Thursday, Feb. 4 selectboard meeting before recommending the board reject the bid.

The property was bid out late last year but in early January the board rebid the property after the high bidder of $5,000 withdrew his offer.

The board agreed that the new bid was much less than they hoped for and would not even cover the back taxes. But board members also said last week they recognized it may be hard to get a bid high enough to pay the back taxes and sewer fees and additional legal fees.

“We may have to cut our losses some time,” said Selectman Russ Newcomb, who made a motion to reject the bid.

The property is one of a list released last summer of 22 tax-acquired properties in the town’s possession. There are about 3,000 properties in town.

The principal amount owed on individual properties ranged at that time from about $118 for 2000 to 2003 unpaid taxes on a Cottage Street property to the $6,348 on unpaid taxes from 2007 to 2015 on the 30 Dean Ave. property.

Although the collection rate is about 91 percent townwide when taxes first go out, Holt said last summer that the town hadn’t dealt with the over due taxes in a while so the number of tax acquired properties on the list increased.

The list has been reduced since that time. Tax acquired properties sold since then include a .09 acres on Hobbs Pond for $6,130. The town was owed about $204 in back taxes from 2009 to 2014.

Another 5.2-acre lot on Moose Hill Drive on the list was sold for $5,600. The previous owner of the Moose Hill lot owed a principal of around $2,752 from nonpayment of taxes from 2009 to 2014. That jumped to $3,769 with fees and interest.

If property taxes have not been paid, the town’s 2011 policy first allows the former owner to reacquire the property through an interest-free payment plan before they go to lien, a documented heir can redeem the property in the same way as a former owner or the property may be retained for public use if it has an aesthetic, recreational or economic benefit to the town, or may be sold by public bid.

Properties that go to bid must be advertised for at least two weeks in the Advertiser Democrat and on the town’s website. However, the former owner still has a chance to bid on the property, since a certified notification will be sent to him or her.

The policy further states that the selectboard is not required to accept the highest bid “but may consider other bids in the best interest of the town.”

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