June 3, 2024 – Stafford, CT
The Board of Finance (BOF) had a full agenda at Monday’s meeting, but it started by discussing dealing with some long-term delinquent taxes. Stafford’s Tax Collector, Stephanie Irving, presented the BOF with a list of delinquent taxes that she wanted to add to the suspense list, which means the town can stop actively trying to collect them.
The list represents a bit over $57,000 in real estate, motor vehicle, and personal property taxes that have been on the Tax Collector’s radar for 15 years. Right now, you’re likely asking why the town would give up on collecting more than $57,000 of owed taxes, but many of the people on the list have either died or moved out of state. Some delinquent motor vehicle taxes belong to people without a current registration. If you have ever failed to pay your car taxes, you know that when it comes time to re-register your car, you cannot do so until you pay your taxes.
Everything except for the delinquent real estate taxes goes to a collections agency or a State Marshal to enforce, which, of course, costs money. While the sum total of these taxes is quite large, on an individual basis, many of the individual amounts owed are hardly worth collecting, such as an $8.12 motor vehicle tax. A few people owe around $1,000, but most of the individual amounts are far less, with the exception of over $9,000 owed on the Hydeville Mill by Roger Lemonde, who is deceased. (And that mill won’t likely be around for much longer.)
Conrado Ulloa, a BOF alternate who was seated for Matt McKenney, asked if it was possible to put a lien on someone’s house for a motor vehicle or personal property. Irving told him it was not. However, the town does charge interest on taxes that are not paid on time.
Tony Pellegrino wondered why the Tax Collector’s office pursued such small amounts for nearly 15 years before finally suspending their efforts. He did not think it was worth the time, effort, and resources to collect the smallest amounts.
Irving assured him that the list of unpaid taxes was much larger than what was on the list she presented and that this only represented a small portion of what they were pursuing. Ultimately, the board voted unanimously to approve the list and stop pursuing collection of these taxes.
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