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Meriden committee authorizes RFP for third‑party personal‑property audit amid privacy and scope questions
Summary
The Finance Committee authorized advertising an RFP for a third‑party personal‑property audit to locate untaxed commercial property. Staff said contractors would be paid from first‑year collections (typical bids 20–30%); councilors pressed staff on scope, timeline, and protections for small or home‑based businesses.
The Meriden Finance Committee voted Oct. 9 to advertise and solicit bids for a third‑party personal‑property audit intended to identify commercial personal property not currently on the tax rolls.
Acting City Manager Emily Holland said the assessor's office is statutorily authorized to audit personal property and the city seeks a specialized firm to perform the work because of the volume and technical requirements. She described a contingency‑fee model: the city would not pay money up front; the contractor would take a percentage of first‑year collections after appeals are exhausted and taxes are paid.
"We would not be paying any money out front," Holland said. "Once the revenue has been collected... then they would take a percentage of what is actually collected in that first year that the personal property is on the tax rolls." Finance staff estimated typical contractor fees to be between 20% and 30% of first‑year collections.
Councilors pressed staff about the audit's scope and potential effects on small or home‑based businesses. Mayor Kevin Scarpati warned that small operators who have been operating from home "may get a knock on your door" and asked for guarantees that residents would not be surprised by tax bills. Holland said auditors would perform physical inspections, the assessor would sign off on any new assessments, and taxpayers would receive notices and have opportunities to appeal to the Board of Assessment Appeals and the Superior Court.
Staff said the audit would focus on business contents (computers, machinery, shelving) and exclude vehicles and real property, and that manufacturing property is generally exempt under state rules. The city expects the work to be phased over three years, auditing roughly a third of accounts each year to avoid a single large impact on one grand list.
Why it matters: The audit aims to capture untaxed business property and make tax burdens more equitable across taxpayers, but councilors sought clearer RFP language, narrower scope options (for example, exemptions or value cutoffs for very small accounts), and a public communication plan so residents and small businesses are notified in advance.
