A Connecticut city says it has recouped about $140,000 in lost tax revenue from unregistered motor vehicles, out-of-city and out-of-state registered vehicles after hiring a company to look for the vehicles.
In the program initiated by city of West Haven at the request of the mayor, Capital Tax Recovery of Berlin scanned license plates across West Haven to determine whether residents had their vehicles registered with the state and had West Haven as the tax city, according to a spokesman.
“I’m delighted we’ve been able to recover $140,000 in tax revenue, but it’s equally important moving forward that every vehicle owned by a West Haven resident carries the right registration,” West Haven Mayor Dorinda Borer.said.
“While we welcome new residents to our city and give some acclimation time to get paperwork and registration in order, if you’re not registered in West Haven within six months, we then send a reminder that to live in our city and use our services, everyone needs to pitch in,” Borer.said, in a statement. “It’s about fairness and equalizing the distribution of taxes and city revenue.”
The city contracted with Capital Tax Recovery and the company has been “working with the assessor’s office for months to establish cases of missing tax revenue from an audit of West Haven’s motor vehicle grand list,” Borer said.
Since January, 1,169 vehicles were submitted for billing, and “all owners have been in contact with CTR to confirm their liability,” according to Assessor Ann Marie Gradoia.
Gradoia said that, of that number, 478 vehicles were unregistered, 66 were registered outside of West Haven and 102 were registered outside of Connecticut.
“As a result, an assessment of $13 million has been added to the city’s motor vehicle grand list for a billable amount of $376,720 in taxes,” according to Tax Manager Rachel A-Massih.
Gradoia noted that residents who live in West Haven on or before Oct. 1 of each year must have their vehicles registered in the city.
Residents have 90 days to transfer vehicles once establishing residence in Connecticut, according to Gradoia.
The assessment year runs from Oct. 1 to Sept. 30.
The city also noted that any resident who received a notice from Capital Tax Recovery must contact the company directly by calling 860-826-1100 or visiting https://capitaltaxrecovery.com.
Further, while residents with “extenuating circumstances as to why their vehicle is not registered in West Haven can contact the assessor’s office,” when “police identify an unregistered vehicle or an out-of-state license plate on a public street, they will send the information to the assessor’s office” according to the city spokesman .That office would then send a letter to the owner, and if there were no response within 30 days, police could then tow the vehicle.
