Poland owes bottler huge tax refund

Poland owes the Poland Spring Water Co. millions of dollars in tax refunds because of a collection error, and some residents want to hold town officials accountable.

The residents blame the Board of Selectmen and town administrators for failing to refund an estimated $2.7 million in tax payments. They have begun pushing for an ordinance that would give them the ability to recall elected officials.

Town officials admit they owe the money. They said the money was mistakenly placed in the town's general fund and used to keep property taxes down instead of being returned to Poland Spring as required by a tax increment financing agreement.

"It is almost laughable in the sense that it has gone on for years and no one picked up on it," said Erland Torrey, vice chairman of the Board of Selectmen. "Now there are a few people who want to see some heads roll."

Torrey, who was elected to the board in April, said selectmen have a choice. They can set the date for a special town meeting vote on the recall petition, which contains the signatures of more than 300 registered voters, or they can elect to put the question before voters at the annual town meeting next April.

In the meantime, Torrey said, the mistake has been caught and will be dealt with. He said the town is talking with the company about some type of long-term repayment plan that would eliminate the need for a tax increase.

"We are having discussions with the town, and we expect to find a solution," said Jane Lazgin, spokeswoman for Poland Spring's parent company, Nestle Waters of North America, which is based in Connecticut.

Lazgin said she needed more time to investigate why the company did not detect the oversight.

The town said Poland Spring, which was established in 1845 and employs about 400 workers at its Poland plant, sought a tax break in 2000 in order to help pay for the extension of water and sewer lines from the city of Auburn to its bottling plant in Poland.

But instead of returning a percentage of the tax revenue from the improvement project, the town kept all the money it collected over a period of about five years.

"The town took the money from the TIF and co-mingled it with the general fund revenues," said Glenn Peterson, a former town selectman who is now involved in the recall effort. "We took their money and we spent it. We feel there has been dereliction of duty."

Assistant Town Manager Rosemary Roy said the mistake was uncovered during the town's annual audit earlier this year. It took some time before it was made public because the town wanted to determine how the mistake occurred.

Roy said several people and departments never caught the oversight, including the town's finance department, longtime Town Manager Richard Chick and Poland Spring.

"It was not an error in the numbers. It was an error in the management (of the TIF funds)," Roy said. "If you had to point a finger at someone, the town would be on the wrong side."

Petitioner Richard Fraser, who has lived in Poland for more than 20 years, said the town needs to own up to its mistakes even if that means getting rid of some public officials. In the end, the town will have to repay the company, and that means taxpayers will have to foot the bill, Fraser points out.

"Somebody needs to be held accountable and gotten rid of. We are fed up and we want a change," Fraser said.

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