By Christopher Jensen
Gorham Paper & Tissue, the last paper mill in the North Country, is doing well enough to still be paying off a $1.1 million debt to the town of Gorham.
“They’re doing a great job paying and keeping up with the agreement,” Gorham Town Manager Robin Frost told the Gorham Select Board last week.
She said the mill has paid off $390,000, but still owes about $785,000. It owes back taxes from 2013.
The mill is also still making payments on money owed to the Androscoggin Valley Regional Refuse Disposal District, said Sharon Gauthier, its executive director.
The plant has struggled with issues including energy costs and intense foreign competition that has put many other mills out of business.
In 2011 it was purchased and reopened by Patriarch Partners, a private investment firm based in New York. It is specializing in what are known as away-from-home towels such as those found in restaurants or bathrooms in office buildings.
Plant manager Dick Arnold couldn’t be reached for comment.