Province selling off Campobello lands seized for unpaid taxes

Anybody looking to buy land on Campobello Island should check out the provincial Department of Transportation and Infrastructure's list of surplus properties. On Monday, November 8, the department opened online bidding for 25 properties with the closing date of Monday, November 29. These are the first of 74 lots to go on sale in the coming months, including 25 more in February and the final batch in March, according to Mark Taylor with the department.
The province seized most of these properties for unpaid taxes. Most of them once belonged to Jim McDougal and Larry Kuca from Arkansas, who bought a large chunk of Campobello Island in the 1980s, Taylor confirms. They formed the Campobello Company, intending to sell lots and develop a vacation hotspot. They sold some lots, but the project ended badly when McDougal and Kuca got caught up in the Whitewater scandal, a vacation real estate project in the United States. Whitewater investors included former U.S. President Bill and Hillary Clinton.
The province seized properties at different times and is finally ready to offer them for sale. "The government of New Brunswick has had these properties for awhile, and there's always a process involved making the properties available, and we are ready for making them available to the public," Taylor says. The total appraised value of all 74 parcels comes to $857,900, but Taylor expects the bids to come in "way past that amount."
Under provincial policy, other government departments and municipal governments have first right of refusal before surplus property goes on sale to the public. Mayor Harvey Matthews confirms that the Rural Community of Campobello Island exercised its option to acquire one parcel, hoping that someone will build housing for people with low incomes, seniors or possibly both. The rural community acquired another piece thinking that it would provide a site for a small park overlooking the bay or possibly a fishermen's memorial.
The government plans to sell the rest, 74 lots in total, to the highest bidders. Taylor says the province opted to start with 25 properties. "The most efficient way to make them available and to make sure as many people as possible have a chance to have a serious look at them is by doing it this way. If we did 74 properties at once, that's a huge responsibility," he says. All bids must be tendered online. Properties are sold "as is, where is" with no warranty as to title. The province encourages prospective buyers to inspect properties beforehand as the successful bidder's 10% deposit is non refundable.
Matthews says that making these lots available "possibly" presents an opportunity for Campobello Island, but he worries that the bids will go beyond what local people can afford. "I think locals should have had first offer to buy, in my humble opinion," he says.
"The funds raised by these sales go back into revenues and help pay for the services that we all enjoy," Taylor says. In fact, he encourages people not from Campobello Island, including people in Maine, to give these properties a look, as sites for permanent homes, seasonal residences or businesses.
"Campobello Island is a very beautiful island and an amazing place. The people of Campobello are very friendly and great people," he says. "We are confident people are going to show interest in the island and are going to move to the island for various reasons," he adds, stating that putting these properties on the block presents "an amazing opportunity now to draw people to the island."
St. Croix MLA Kathy Bockus also sees this sale as a good thing. "We believe the sale of these properties will provide an opportunity for people to enjoy these properties and attract new residents and businesses to the island who will discover everything Campobello Island has to offer," she says.
People can find information on these properties and how to tender bids by Googling "Government Land Auction Campobello" then opening "Surplus Property for Sale -- Government of New Brunswick."