North Canaan to vote June 23 on appointing civil jobs, trooper contract

NORTH CANAAN — At its June meeting, The Board of Selectmen set a joint public hearing and special town meeting to be held June 23.

The two items to be voted on will be: to approve a two-year resident trooper contract for Trooper Spencer Bronson; to change the roles of town clerk, treasurer and tax collector to be appointed positions instead of elected positions.

The trooper contract would be effective July 1, 2025 through June 30, 2027.

As of the June 2 selectmen’s meeting, no salary figure had been put forth for the new contract. The 2025-26 budget that was approved in May allocated $133,602 toward the resident trooper line.

The full trooper contract is on the town website northcanaan.org and can be accessed by clicking “Read More” about the town meeting at the top of the home page.

The four-year appointments of town clerk, treasurer and tax collector would be made by the selectmen. First Selectman Brian Ohler said many towns across the state have been switching away from electing these roles.

“The tax collectors in Connecticut, over half now are appointed,” said Ohler. “The town clerks in Connecticut, over a third.”

Ohler said the change would give the town “some oversight” of the staff in an effort to maintain continuity of service.

“These offices are truly there for the towns and the residents and the businesses, and ensuring that the town itself has some oversight in their performance and their hours and basically their scope of work, I think it’s a healthy time for us to have that discussion as a town,” Ohler said.

Out-of-state vehicle tax

Noting the prevalence of vehicles in town with out-of-state license plates, Selectman Craig Whiting said North Canaan may begin taxing and fining the vehicle owners in spite of their non-local registration.

He cited a June 1 CT Mirror article titled “Out-of-state license plates are costing CT towns big money.”

It states, “Connecticut law mandates that vehicles “garaged” in a municipality — meaning regularly parked overnight, even on the street — must be taxed there, regardless of where they may be officially registered.Spend your winter in the Sunshine State, but more than 90 days each summer in Connecticut, and you have to pay, even with those Florida plates. The penalty is a $1,000 fine.”

“You could be double charged,” Whiting said.

“We would like for them to do what’s right,” said Ohler, noting some 40 vehicles have been identified. “Or we can just send them the bill.”