Those who owe back taxes on their cars and trucks may soon find their vehicle locked with a metal boot until they fork over the cash – along with another $175 to have the boot removed.
The city is eyeing a contract with Georgia-based VioAlert Systems to allow it to use license plate scanning equipment across town to find tax scofflaws and slap boots on vehicles that have unpaid property tax bills.
The move won’t cost the city any money – except for administrative time in supplying updated lists of tax deadbeats – but may help scrape up more tax revenue.
“We’re trying to do whatever we can to get dollars,” city Purchasing Agent Roger Rousseau said Monday.
The proposed deal, which city councilors will consider Tuesday, would allow VioAlert to put boots on the wheels of cars whose owners have failed to pay vehicle taxes.
It would make its money by collecting $175 in additional charges in order for someone to have the boot removed.
VioAlert, which is already operating in a handful of Connecticut municipalities, was the only bidder when the city sought companies interested in trying out the license plate scanning concept to track down tax scofflaws.
The $175 fee it proposed for Bristol is higher than it is levying elsewhere.
In Danbury, vehicle owners whose car or truck is booted have to pay $130 to get the device removed.
In West Haven, where officials bought $10,000 worth of boots for VioAlert to use, scofflaws pay $95 to get the boot removed.
In New Haven, however, VioAlert quit the city when it found that charging $55 for removal of its boots wasn’t profitable, according to a story in the New Haven Independent.
Though the program in Bristol will initially focus on those with unpaid vehicle taxes, Rousseau said in a memorandum to Mayor Art Ward and City Clerk Therese Pac that it is structured in such a way that it could also be used to crack down on those with unpaid parking tickets.
Officials aren’t sure how much money the new program might bring in to City Hall or to VioAlert.
“There’s no telling how many license plates they’ll get,” Rousseau said.
License plate scanning technology has been around since the 1970s, but only in the past decade has it been widely used to check plate numbers against lists of those who owe for parking tickets or taxes.
City councilors will consider the idea when they meet at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the council chambers on the first floor of City Hall. There is a public comment portion at the beginning of the session.
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Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com
31 comments:
This is just another example of how our once beloved city is turning into Waterbury, New Haven and Bridgeport....
Disgusting.
See you in Avon.
Are we to beleive this group will actually make a desision
BRISTOL POLITIANS MAKE HISTORY THEY SPEND TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS TO MAKE A DIME.
Does this company just drive around neighborhoods and scan license plates? Do they trespass on people property to boot a car? I think I might not pay my car tax bill just so I can sue the city when they trespass on my property!
If these people had 175.00 they probably leave bristol. Just another dream that wont come true. These guys should work on the budget not stupid things. EXAMPLE OF NO EDUCATION .
No time for stupid ideas see YA.
Most of the people who are behind on their car taxes have a valid reason for it! I think $175 fee is just outrageous and is going to hurt a LOT of folks. If they owe $50-$100 in back taxes we expect them to pay that plus an additional $175 in fees?...Or basically let their cars sit and be booted so that they can't even get to work or get their kids to school and go grocery shopping?
Sounds like a vicious cycle to me. Not to mention the city is going to look even more like a ghetto than it already does. I can see the point of going after those that owe large amounts in back taxes, but at least set a reasonable limit like $500+ thats owed in taxes and a reasonable fee. It just not right to make a minimum wage earner pay almost a weeks pay for a lousy boot fee.
Whats next...will we burn down the houses of those that owe house property taxes? Or maybe just throw them out in the cold. Any Councilor that votes for this B.S. will not have my vote again...nor will the Mayor. There are plenty of other ways to save money. i.e. BUDGET CUTS, CUT SPENDING and Union Consessions. But instead these jerks want to take the easy way out and not work for their money.
A more profitable and less expensive opportunity is to assign a police officer to patrol the parking lots of our larger apartment complexes. There they will find numerous vehicles owned by permanent ESPN employees registered in the state the employee migrated from. An instant increase in tax revenue waiting to be collected.
We need Stortz again!
All good points this has to be the worst set of politians ever to come up with the shit they do. BRISTOL has serious issues with this group. Look around Bristol we are a low income city by far and these asses want to finish us off.
this is the wrong time to be doing this. You should have done it when there were jobs, income and employed bristol citizens. Now it would be adding insult to injury.
Wow, can one actually imagine that the groupies on this website of negative zeros would be against ANYTHING ever proposed in the City of Bristol?
Can one even imagine the shock waves that would tremble throughout our community if even a hint of something positive were to be proposed on this site?
Ooops, good morning, just woke up from one of those fearsome nightmares of something positive; had to be a nightmare because anything of a positive nature appearing on this site, can only be a bad dream.
"EXAMPLE OF NO EDUCATION"
Well, here's a few for you - 5:55 PM, 6:42 PM, 6:44 PM, 8:44 PM.
BTW, speaking of stupid...the word is POLITICIANS not POLITIANS. Do you honestly believe that ANYONE values the opinion of someone who has the language and spelling skills of a second grader?
Therte is already a policy in place that makes people pay their car taxes. They can't register their vehicles. Anonymous 7:20 pm said it right. In these tough economic times when people are struggling to put food on the table let us not throw a boot on the one thing that they need to look for or get to work. Even in good times this is a bad idea. I might support it if that person has several cars and owes several years of back taxes but even then I think we can do better.
At least we have a lot of laughts in this town with the dumbest set of politians in the state. This city could make a lot of money if we could make a movie.
7:20
Come on...a valid reason for not paying taxes. Where do you draw the line, $100, $500, $1000? If you live in the city and benefit from it's services, it is your obligation and responsibility to pay your taxes. If you don't, you're irresponsilbe and a deadbeat and should be treated as such.
I'm not sure if this $175 fine/boot proposal is worthwhile, but don't make a case for people not to pay their taxes. That's just ridiculous.
sounds like an economic stimulus for me. i'll only charge $50 to cut the boot off.
this is a fantastic concept.
finally, a way to get those who are breaking the law by having vehicles registered out of state [vermont, mostly] start obeying the law by registering their vehicles in connecticut and paying their fair share of property taxes.
and to those who say this is unfair to those are behind in property tax payments, i say too bad. if you can't afford a car, then find alternate means of transportation, including car-pooling and/or public transportation.
remember, you have to pay to be able to play.
merry christmas.
-billy from bristol
You're all missing the point - people have to pay their taxes. It may be the low income folks that are not paying their taxes, but they also don't pay property taxes as homeowners. Why should the homeowners in Bristol carry them even more if they don't pay car taxes? Are you suggesting that we just let them not pay taxes, how about just letting them drive around without a registration and insurance too - and blame it on the fact that they are low income. People need to help themselves, or walk or take the bus.
DEC 8 730 THIS GUY WITH 2ND GRADE education might be smarter then most acording to test scores in BRISTOL. Remember you dont have to be edcuated to speak your mind. Look what comes out of city hall.
Atta boy Art,go after the little guy that can't fight back!
Jean Letourneau is right. We already have a policy in place where vehicles cant be registered if taxes are owed. There is no need for more. I hope people will show up at the meeting and voice their opinions....instead of just talking crap on here....like usual! All talk and no action.
"At least we have a lot of laughts in this town with the dumbest set of politians in the state."
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HAHAHAHA...talk about the pot calling the kettle black! The word is POLITICIANS...
P-O-L-I-T-I-C-I-A-N-S
(Lots and lots of laughs on this blog too!)
Going after out of state registered vehicles is a good idea, suggested recently in a letter to the editor.
Delinquent car tax payments: They are on the list. Send them another letter indicating their status AND waring them that they will be booted. Give them up to two months to get current, and then go after them. The city does have their address.
Start with City employees in both cases.
"THIS GUY WITH 2ND GRADE education might be smarter then most"
Don't bet the farm.
Just another example of stupid elected officials we have in BRISTOL . Seven people that dont no our laws. Very sad that people like this run the city. Or should we say ruin the city.
3:23 - one thing that needs to be said for all of you nerdy misfits is that you need to heed "Suck it up" because at least that person has never misspelled "Suck it up."
TIM GAMACHE will make it all better he has all the answers.
Westconn must ride the bus to school and not have to worry about having a job and maing it to work everyday in order to pay the bills. Get real dude. Someday you'll be living in the real world like the rest of us.
Print deadbeat taxpayers in the paper...that will motivate a few to pay. We have no problem listing "arrests" for seatbelt violators. Why not tax violators too?....Stave Collins for Mayor!
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