Key Points:
- BOS supports pursuing a tax sale to recover over $1.2M in delinquent taxes
- Concerns raised about hiring a consultant tied to a former selectman’s law firm
- Officials opt to explore multiple vendors rather than fast-track a single recommendation
Why it Matters: Recovering unpaid taxes could significantly impact town finances, but how the town selects vendors raises questions about transparency and public trust.
The Board of Selectmen revisited the idea of a tax sale on Monday, Apr. 20, and while they were amenable to the idea, reticence was expressed about engaging a consultant who works at the same law firm as former Selectman Joshua Cole.
Instead, the BOS unanimously approved a motion to have the tax collector interview various vendors with the intention of ultimately engaging someone to handle a tax sale, not necessarily giving priority to her preferred candidate.
Adam Cohen, an attorney with Pullman & Comley, returned to the BOS to talk about the details of holding a tax sale, having first spoken to the board about the idea on Sept. 2, 2025. At that time, Cole, as an attorney with Pullman & Comley, recused himself from the decision making
Hollie Rapp, manager of assessing and tax collection, is recommending that the town engage a consultant to handle the tax sale, believing it could recoup around $1.2 million in back taxes with minimal effort. She said in September that Wilton currently had more than $2.6 million in unpaid taxes on its books, including sewer assessment and usage bills, some of which has been unpaid for 15 years.
“My recommendation is that the tax collector’s office holds a tax sale every two years,” Rapp said in a summary memo to the BOS. “I believe the first-year criteria should be anyone owing $25,000 or more, or who is delinquent for three years.”
Rapp also recommended Cohen to do this work. Cohen said he does these sales for “about two-thirds of all the towns in Connecticut.”
“The general procedure is it’s a foreclosure … The only difference is statute allows towns to do this without going to court,” Cohen said, describing it as far less expensive to do it this way than to pursue legal actions, which he said cost three times as much.
While he said there was no cost to the town, Cohen was not specific on how much he would be making.
“The procedure is free to the town,” Cohen said. “My fees and expenses get added to the debt as it moves along. If the owner or lien owner pays off the debt, then it comes to me. I take the amount of money owed to me. I send the town the amount of money owed to the town.”
Rapp presented a list of the 97 properties that would qualify for the sale, adding up to $1.2 million in collectible taxes at that specific criteria of $25,000 or more owed over at least the last three years.
“If we increase the amount to $50,000, we would lose about $200,000,” she said.
Cohen said in September that most municipalities will seek remittance starting at the $10,000 threshold, but said it was up to the town. He said they could always decide down the line to change the amount.
Cohen said that the “overwhelming majority” of properties that he puts into auction do not get auctioned. Instead, he said, around three-quarters of the property owners or representatives pay the back taxes once the first notice of the tax sale has begun.
“If they don’t do it before the auction, they will often do it after the auction,” he said.
When the idea first came before the BOS in September there was some reticence about it, with at least two members expressing concern that it could prove embarrassing for those who were called out on the debt.
First Selectman Toni Boucher, who is in favor of the tax sale, pointed out that the names and information of those whose taxes are in arrears is already public information.
While there was some mention previously made of Cole’s connection to Cohen’s law firm, this time Selectman Rich McCarty made a point of dissuading the immediate engagement of Cohen without some measure of due process.
“The last time we talked about it as well, there was some public reaction about Pullman & Comley and at that time a member of the Board of Selectmen being a member of Pullman & Comley. I’m always about avoiding even the appearance of impropriety,” McCarty said, wondering out loud if they shouldn’t do a Request for Proposals (RFP).
Boucher concurred.
“It’s always a good idea to talk to more than one person and go through that process,” she said, suggesting that at least at this time the BOS agree to being onboard with the idea.
“I did get a strong sense by the Board of Finance that they were interested in the town pursuing this option,” Boucher said.