Oxford Selectmen will ask a Superior Court judge how to proceed in resolving issues stemming from the alleged theft of hundreds of thousands of dollars by former Tax Collector Karen Guillet.
At a Selectmen meeting April 4, town attorney Kevin Condon described the move made as the first step in straightening out the town’s “delinquent” tax list. The list was compiled in February, shortly after First Selectman George Temple took office.
The list, which also contained names of residents who don’t actually owe taxes, reflects the shoddy job Guillet did as tax collector.
Condon wrote a letter to the Selectmen explaining why the town may want to ask a judge for guidance with the tax list. The letter is printed at the end of this post.
Background
Guillet was arrested last November in connection with what officials have called incompetent and fraudulent practices in her supervision of tax collecting in town.
The arrest warrant for Guillet — 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. State police were even dispatched to the building as a precaution.
Tell It To A Judge
The action Selectmen took last week means they’ll ask a judge if publishing an ad in a local newspaper is sufficient to meet legal requirements of notifying “all persons who have an interest” in the matter — namely, anyone who pays taxes in Oxford.
If they get permission, Condon said, “It saves a fortune for the town and gives us a process by which we can feel pretty safe and secure.” Otherwise, the town would have to serve notice separately to every taxpayer in Oxford, according to Condon.
Assuming the newspaper ad passes muster, the town would then ask the judge for advice on how to collect money the town is still owed and how to remove names from the list that shouldn’t be on it.
“While the town charter is clear along with the Connecticut state law that a municipality has the power to levy taxes, it remains unclear to what extent taxes may be modified, excused, or abated,” Condon wrote in his letter to selectmen. “Therefore, it may be in the best interest of the town to seek an opinion from the Superior Court dispositive of the issues of collection, forgiveness, or modification of property taxes.”
First Selectman George Temple, a lawyer himself, said he researched the issue and couldn’t find any similar cases to guide the town’s response.
‘Can Of Worms’
“There are no statutes that cover it,” Temple said. “I didn’t see any case law that covers it. So we have to have a judge tell us how to get people off this list and narrow this list to a workable number that’s reliable.”
Temple said he sympathized with people who became “ticked off” that their names were on the list released in February, but said that making sure such people were aware of it was “one of the reasons we had to publish that list.”
“When we do another publication that will be sufficient for us to get the information that we have to get from the Superior Court judge,” he said.
“Our goal is to have a delinquent taxpayers list that is reliable, honest, and doesn’t falsely accuse somebody of not paying their taxes,” the first selectman said. “But if they haven’t paid their taxes then we’ve got to do something to ensure they do.”
“We’ve got a can of worms and we’re trying to sort it out,” Temple added.
Guillet’s next court appearance is scheduled for April 25.
