Oxford First Selectman George Temple apologized Wednesday for offending residents, but said releasing a list with some 2,000 delinquent tax accounts had to be done.
“Nobody in this town elected me to be a coward and I’m not backing away from a difficult situation. We’re going to straighten this out,” Temple said.
The 41-page list, released during a press conference Tuesday, shows Oxford is owed roughly $10.2 million in delinquent property taxes stretching back to 1997.
It is a very large amount of money — just $3 million less than Oxford’s town budget.
However, officials concede there are property owners on the list who don’t owe money. The precise number of people isn’t known, which is part of the reason the list was sent to the local media.
The list’s release angered and embarrassed many Oxford residents, some of whom showed up at Oxford Town Hall Wednesday morning demanding to know why their names were on a delinquent list when they had paid their taxes.
Oxford police were then stationed at Town Hall as a precaution.
Temple said the goal wasn’t to drag names through the mud. It was to show residents the magnitude of the problem inherited by Temple and tax collector Cayenne Spremullo. Both were elected in November.
Spremullo’s predecessor was Karen Guillet, who served as tax collector for 24 years. Guillet has criminal charges pending against her in Milford Superior Court for allegedly stealing tax money.
Temple said the list is so large because of Guillet’s mismanagement, including her inability to collect legitimate taxes owed to the town.
Complicating the matter — some on the delinquent list do, in fact, owe back taxes. Oxford government must do a better job getting that money, Temple said.
Temple said the previous town attorney had been sending letters to property owners who owed money.
“The response he got was lukewarm,” Temple said. “A lot of people didn’t even respond. So we took the list and published it.”
Temple said his goal was to shine some light on the list, get it out to the public — and deal with it.
“We are going to take care of that list. We are going to reduce it. And the people who are wrongly on there — and I know there are people wrongly on there — they will be taken off that list. And I will list their names and apologize to them for having people in town think less of them,” he said.
Selectman Dave McKane said the list should not have been made public. Former First Selectman Mary Ann Drayton-Rogers was handling the matter “discreetly,” McKane said.
Under state law, tax information, including the names of residents and the amounts owed, is public information anyone can obtain.
McKane also doubted whether the amount of taxes actually owed was anywhere near $10 million. He estimated the actual amount owed is probably $2 million at most and the majority is owed by a single property owner.
Temple hopes McKane is right.
“With all due respect I don’t think you have a clue and neither do I,” Temple said.
Guillet, the former tax collector, was put on administrative leave in January 2009 after town officials received information accusing her of embezzling money. She resigned in June 2010.
In December 2010, the Town of Oxford filed a civil lawsuit against Guillet, accusing her of stealing some $670,000 from taxpayers.
State police arrested Guillet on felony larceny and forgery charges in November 2011. Her cases are pending.
On Wednesday, a reporter from WTNH went to Guillet’s house to ask her about the allegations. Click the video to hear Guillet speak.
The charges state police lodged against Guillet cover $243,902 in alleged thefts covering 2008 and 2009, but the police warrant used to arrest her acknowledges the pattern of embezzlement had likely been going on for years.
Temple has called for a meeting with the town’s finance director, the Board of Finance, the tax collector and the Board of Selectmen to discuss Oxford’s giant tax delinquent list. The date for that meeting had not been set as of Wednesday.
