The Town of Oxford has filed a lawsuit asking a judge how to fix issues stemming from the alleged theft of hundreds of thousands of dollars by former Tax Collector Karen Guillet.
The suit was filed Thursday at Superior Court in Milford, according to court records. The listed defendant is the state’s Office of Policy and Management, a part of the executive branch which deals with property tax issues, among other things.
Selectmen voted to take the step at a meeting last month.
The six-page complaint written by Town Attorney Kevin Condon says records kept by Guillet — now facing felony embezzlement charges and a civil lawsuit — were shoddy, and erroneously named certain taxpayers as delinquent in their payments.
First Selectman George Temple said Friday that the town has a position on how to fix that messed up tax delinquency list.
The lawsuit was filed, in part, to get feedback from a judge on that plan.
“Basically the judge is going to tell us whether we’re right or we’re wrong,” Temple said.
The complaint goes on to say Guillet’s records erroneously reflect tax liens and interest filed against certain property owners, even though the land records in Town Hall may not reflect such liens.
A message was left at Condon’s office Friday.
The complaint is posted below. Article continues after the document.
Oxford Declaratory Judgment Complaint
The arrest warrant for Guillet in the criminal case — in which she’s charged with first-degree larceny and six counts of first-degree forgery — said Guillet collected money and did not credit accounts, all the while living a lavish lifestyle.
The warrant says Guillet embezzled $243,902 from the town in 2008 and 2009, but Oxford town officials also have a civil lawsuit pending against Guillet alleging thefts going back six years and totaling more than $670,000.
Officials held a press conference in February to distribute a 41-page list of more than 2,000 seemingly delinquent property tax accounts totaling more than $10 million and dating back to 1997.
The next morning, several residents showed up to Town Hall to complain that their names were put on the list erroneously.
Now, the town is asking a judge to determine the proper procedure for correcting the list.
“My feeling is I, or at least the Board of Selectmen, ought to be able to hear evidence on all of these things and expunge people from this list,” Temple said Friday. “With an apology.”
The first selectman said he believes there’s a hole in state laws governing the matter because while they allow municipalities to discharge such liens if recorded in the town’s land records, they say nothing about what to do when land records do not show any liens.
He said the attorney general’s office would represent the state’s Office of Policy and Management in the case and may weigh in with an opinion on how to interpret the applicable state laws.
“We’re putting them on notice that there’s a real flaw in the state statutes,” Temple said.
In response to a message seeking comment on the case, Susan Kinsman, a spokesman for Attorney General George Jepsen, said: “The Office of the Attorney General has received the complaint and it is being reviewed.”
Temple said it’s too bad the town has to take such action but vowed things will be different going forward.
“It’s an unfortunate position we’re put in to have to do this,” Temple said Friday. “It’s not the way things are going to be done from now on, believe me.”
The First Selectmen said he’ll talk more extensively about the suit at a press conference 2 p.m. Tuesday at Town Hall.
Guillet’s next court appearance in her criminal case is May 31. After her last appearance, her lawyer said negotiations with prosecutors had just begun.
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