Groton Property Taxation.....WITH representation

   Recently, a review of the Groton Town Charter, the Connecticut State Statutes and a recent communication from a Bond Attorney, indicates that non-residents who pay Groton Property Taxes in excess of one thousand dollars annually should be allowed to vote in Town Elections and Referendums. 

 In a recent inquiry into a different matter, relating to the upcoming referendum concerning Flanders Road, the Groton Town Manager forwarded a legal opinion from the Bond Attorneys at Day Pitney, LLP in Hartford, CT. This pertained to the Sewer Project and whether the City residents could vote on the Town project. The determination was that the project was Town-wide, affecting city residents as well.  

That legal opinion also included the following language:   ....." there is no provision in the Town Charter or the Connecticut General Statutes permitting the exclusion of any eligible voter based upon residency outside the District or upon the absence of any tax liability
generally. "  

 In other words, as this legal opinion could also relate to the situation involving non-resident Groton property owners, there is nothing written in the Town Charter that restricts them from voting.  

The following paragraph from the attorneys then reads:

"The United States Supreme Court has held that restrictions upon a citizen's fundamental right to vote, other  than those of residence, age and citizenship, must be “carefully and  meticulously scrutinized” and must necessarily “promote a compelling state interest” if they are to survive constitutional challenge. Under this  strict standard of review, restrictions upon the right to vote to property owners, and by extension one may read “affected property owners”, generally have been declared unconstitutional."

   By interpretation, if there were to actually be such restrictive language in the Town Charter, it could be open to legal challenge.

As for the question of residency, this is covered further in the state statute below.   Connecticut statute CGSA - 7.6 basically says that any adult citizen who pays annual property taxes to the Town of $1,000 or more is entitled to vote in a town election unless a municipality places a limit on that right. As mentioned above by the Bond Attorneys, there is no such specific limit in the Groton Town Charter.  

 The exact wording of the CT statute 7.6 reads:   "At any town meeting other than a regular or special town election or at any meeting of any fire, sewer or school district or any other municipal subdivision of any town incorporated by any special act, any person who is an elector of such town may vote and any citizen of the United States of the age of eighteen years or more who, jointly or severally, is liable to the town, district or subdivision for taxes assessed against him on an assessment of not less than one thousand dollars on the last-completed grand list of such town, district or subdivision, or who would be so liable if not entitled to an exemption under subdivision (17), (19), (22), (23), (25) or (26) of section 12-81, may vote, unless restricted by the provisions of any special act relating to such town, district or subdivision." 

 Therefore, it seems reasonable that any such voting restriction that may have been declared previously by the Town of Groton on any non-resident property owners paying $1000 or more annually in taxes should be reviewed immediately because of the forthcoming municipal elections and referendums in November 2013.