RFP027-31 Motor Vehicle Audit

Meriden is seeking proposals from qualified vendors to conduct a comprehensive audit of vehicles operating within its municipal borders that are registered out-of-state, or have failed to register locally, in violation of Connecticut General Statutes (CGS) §12-71 and §14-12a. T he primary goal of this initiative is to identify non-compliant vehicles legally subject to municipal property tax, establish fair assessments, and recover lost tax revenue for the municipality.

The City desires an external firm to audit out-of-state license plates of motor vehicles owned by residents of Meriden to determine their validity and to find and collect taxes on vehicles that are kept in town but registered elsewhere. Municipalities have the authority to add unregistered or out-of-state vehicles to their local grand tax lists as registering a vehicle out of state while residing in Connecticut to avoid local property taxes is considered tax evasion and is illegal under Connecticut state law.

The objective of this audit is to identify non-compliant vehicles, update municipal grand lists, and issue appropriate tax assessments. This includes vehicles registered outside Connecticut, unregistered vehicles, and any other taxable vehicles omitted from the Grand List.

Per Connecticut General Statues new residents have 60 days to transfer their vehicle registration to Connecticut. Furthermore, any vehicle that operates from, returns to, or remains in a Connecticut town in the normal course of operation is subject to local municipal property tax, regardless of where it is registered.