Investigators nab 1,444 city motorists evading car taxes
“This is an initiative that Rob Roqueta and I put together in the hopes that it would do what it appears to be doing. If we had done nothing, we would be collecting nothing.” State Rep. Eric Morson
STAMFORD – In November officials learned that 165 motorists suspected of skirting city car taxes had been identified in a new antiscofflaw program.
As of last month, it was 1,444 car owners.
City representatives found out this week that, since the program began in February 2019, the tax department has collected nearly $216,000 it otherwise could not have expected from motorists who failed to register their vehicles in Stamford.
To identify the tax evaders, the city contracted with a Shelton company, Municipal Tax Services, which has investigators travel the streets, mostly at night, using license-plate readers to determine where cars “live.”
The investigators look for motorists who avoid city car taxes by
registering their vehicles in places that charge less or who don’t register at all.
They’re out there, said Rep. Eric Morson, D-13, who, along with Rep. Rob Roqueta, D-4, proposed the idea as a way to get more cars on the tax rolls and make things more fair for all the residents who do pay that bill each year.
Morson said he learned from talking with Director of Administration Sandy Dennies and Tax Collector Greg Stackpole that there are plenty more vehicles that are garaged but not registered in Stamford.
“The program is continuing rather steadily,” Morson said. “It hasn’t dropped off.”
Municipal Tax Services now has 3,500 cases under review, Morson said. That’s up from 1,580 cases the company was investigating as of November.
So far the city has collected about $431,400 in taxes and interest from previously non-paying motorists, Morson said.
In the first year, the city and the company evenly split the tax revenue and penalty fees from newly identified motorists.
Municipal Tax Services also collects a $50 fee from each violator. Morson said that, so far, the company has collected $48,600 in so-called finder’s fees.
The company also allows residents to fill out, anonymously, online forms reporting neighbors who they suspect do not register their cars in Stamford. Company owner Carl DeProfio said last year reports poured in as soon as news of the contract was released.
DeProfio said Thursday the reports are still coming.
“People are calling us and filling out the form on our website,” DeProfio said.
Members of the Board of Representatives’ Fiscal Committee this week invited Dennies and Stackpole to update them on the contract, which ends in February and includes an option for a one-year extension.
Rep. Anabel Figueroa, D-8, questioned whether the contract is too generous. That was after Dennies explained that, between July 1, 2019 and June 30, 2020 – the only full fiscal year the company has operated in Stamford – the city collected $188,000 and the company took in $228,000, counting finder’s fees.
“Can we modify this contract so the city gets more?” Figueroa asked.
“We share the revenue only when they first find the cars,” Dennies said. “After that, we bill these car owners every year and all of it goes to the city. It’s really an excellent program.”
Morson said the same during the meeting.
“This is an initiative that Rob Roqueta and I put together in the hopes that it would do what it appears to be doing. If we had done nothing, we would be collecting nothing,” Morson said. “Having 50 percent of something is better than 100 percent of nothing.”
Figueroa also wanted to know whether scofflaws are forced to properly register their vehicles once Municipal Tax Services identifies them.
Stackpole said the tax office sends violators property declaration forms.
“That ensures they pay their tax liability in Stam
ford,” Stackpole said. “They may still have an out-of-state plate … I don’t police whether people actually register their car with the state DMV.”
Data gathered by Municipal Tax Services has shown that most violators have cars registered in other towns in Connecticut, followed by those registered in another state, especially New York, which does not charge a car tax. A smaller third group is those motorists who don’t register their vehicles at all.
Municipal Tax Services gleans information on
motorists by scanning license plates and photographing cars parked in driveways, at curbs and in parking lots after working hours, when people usually have returned to their homes. They also scan vehicles as they pull out of apartment complexes on weekday mornings.
The DMV information picked up by the scanners is checked against the city’s database of addresses, and other sources, to confirm that owners live in Stamford.
Stackpole determines whether a car should be added to the tax rolls
based on the information the company compiles. Vehicle owners may appear before the Board of Assessment Appeals if they feel they can prove residence in another town.
Roqueta, who could not attend the committee’s virtual meeting Monday, said afterwards he is pleased the program “is bearing fruit and that this money … can find itself a useful place now that it is back in the city's budget where it belongs.”
Roqueta said he hopes that, in time, “the overall collection rate will trend upward” since, “after the
initial find, the city keeps 100 percent of what is owed.”
Morson said he thought the program at this point would earn the city an additional $100,000 to $150,000 in car tax revenue, so he’s happy to see the number at $216,000.
“I don’t know if there are more vehicles out there than we thought, or that the vehicles that are out there owe more than we thought,” Morson said. “But there’s more to go.”