Taxes owed to Hartford on two cars owned by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy are listed in arrears, a subject of some gleeful emails among tax collectors opposed to Malloy’s plan to end the Department of Motor Vehicles’ role as a municipal debt collector.
The city’s list of taxable property is on line, available for anyone to look up. It shows that Malloy has run up a modest interest charge of $7.86 on a 12-year-old Mercedes C240 and $3.12 on a 16-year-old Nissan Maxima.
The six-month tax bill was due Jan. 1. Including interest, the city lists the governor as owing $269.96 on the 2004 Mercedes and $107.13 on the 2000 Nissan, which the governor no longer owns.
Malloy, whose personal transportation since taking office in 2011 is generally a leased car driven by a state trooper, told The Mirror after a public event Tuesday he was unaware of the debt.
A spokesman, Devon Puglia, said Wednesday that the Mercedes bill was an oversight and was paid as soon as the governor learned of it. The Nissan was sold last year and the plates returned to the Department of Motor Vehicles, he said.
The governor’s wife, Cathy, drives herself to work. Tax records show the used Mercedes was recently acquired. The Malloys had owned the Nissan for years.
Tax collectors and other municipal officials object to Malloy’s plan to end the DMV’s role in debt collection: Under current law, motor vehicle registrations cannot be renewed if the owner has five unpaid parking tickets or hasn’t paid the car tax.