Residents have long expressed concern and annoyance over a small percentage of vehicle owners who move to town but fail to register their vehicle not only in town but in state, as a way to avoid vehicle property taxes.

At the December 4 Board of Selectman meeting, the selectmen approved a $100,000 appropriation towards hiring a company that will come to town and scan plates, in an effort to get those vehicles properly registered.

“This will help us find people who are not paying their fair share of property taxes by registering their vehicle out of state,” said First Selectman Jeff Capeci. “This is something residents expressed concern about, certain people doing this.”

Capital Tax Recovery (CTR) of Kensington was hired of the two companies available, according to Finance Director Bob Tait. The town did its “due diligence” and looked at both companies, asking other towns that were also attempting to recoup vehicle taxes what they did. Tait said that Capital Tax Recovery had a lower fee than the other company, and had a reputation for being “nicer” to residents.

Danbury and Brookfield both utilize Capital Tax Recovery.

“We’re piggybacking on Danbury’s [request for proposal],” said Tait.

The $100K is being taken from the town’s Capital & Non-Recurring Fund. While CTR gets a 40 percent fee of the motor vehicle taxes for the first year of each vehicle it gets onto the tax roll, the appropriation will allow the town to pay the fee directly and place the full tax cost into the tax rolls.

“It’s a bookkeeping thing,” said Tait.

Tax Assessor Kathy Brown said Capital Tax Recovery will send out drivers with plate readers and check plates around town, on the roads, in driveways, and in parking lots. In addition to catching cars registered out of state, it will catch unregistered vehicles as well.

Brown said in the past year, the assessor found people living in town with plates from Maine, Massachussetts, Utah, and Texas.

According to a document from CTR, it deploys “investigators” into town to gather data. When a plate not on the grand list is scanned, the scanner flags the plate and creates a “hit.” High motor vehicle concentration areas such as apartment buildings, condominiums, and multi-family rental unit areas will be scanned more frequently. The company’s agents will “continually scan the entire town for the duration of the contract, mainly at night and in the early morning, to identify as many vehicles as possible.

Once a vehicle has been scanned and flagged on two or more occasions, it is placed “under review,” and CTR will conduct a motor vehicle registration search to determine current owner. They will then confirm residency of the registered owner.

Under the direction of the town, CTR will prepare and mail “a First Letter of Correspondence to all potential taxpayers informing them of their potential tax liability,” with each letter containing an assigned case number and directing the recipient to CTR’s taxpayer web portal.

Some people may get caught in the net who own property in town but only live there a few months of the year and live in another state the rest of the year. For that, there is an appeals process on Capital Tax Recovery’s website, at capitaltaxrecovery.com. There is also a form there for residents to report a vehicle they think might be evading local property taxes.

If someone who is attempting to appeal that their vehicle does not need to be registered in Connecticut feels they did not get proper redress through the company website, their next step would be to contact Newtown’s Board of Assessment Appeals.

Selectman Dan Cruson expressed concerns with Capital Tax Recovery agents checking plates during school drop off and pick-up. While Brown said the agents would not come on school property, Cruson noted that, particularly at Hawley School and Newtown Middle School, there are many students walking in the area.

“It can be a bit of a mess; parents will complain,” said Cruson.

He said if that were something Capital Tax Recovery would do, they should make sure to contact the superintendent and other school officials so that their presence is known and they have permission to be there.

Editor Jim Taylor can be reached at jim@thebee.com.