Constable: $$$ spent battling scofflaws well worth it

LEBANON –The Lebanon constable in charge of prodding reluctant townfolk to give up their New Hampshire vehicle registrations and travel legit with Maine plates said stories in papers like The Lebanon Voice announcing his arrival led to many scofflaws saying when they see him pull up in their driveway in uniform, “Yeah, I know who you are and what you’re here for.”

For the most part they’re very nice, he said this week.

Charles Denault, a retired Kittery police officer who spearheaded an effort there to prosecute car registration scofflaws, was contracted by the town in January using $14,000 in taxpayer appropriated money authorized last June.

The money is sure to be well spent, Denault insists, saying that the amount of money he’ll bring to the town in the form of new excise taxes will far outweigh the $45 an hour salary he’s paid by taxpayers.

Charles Denault (Courtesy photo)

It was estimated in early accounts of his coming that there could be as much as $200,000 in excise tax money out there to be collected if estimates of registration scofflaws were correct and they were all coaxed or forced into switching to Maine plates.

Denault wouldn’t speculate on whether that much will come in between now and June 30 when his contract ends, but he does guarantee that it will be more than what he’s costing the town. He added that those folks who he convinces to switch to Maine plates will likely stay legit and add more money to town coffers every year.

Referring to his method, Denault said he’d much rather cajole and convince scofflaws than have to resort to tougher tactics like court summonses and fines. But he’s prepared to do that if he has to.

After other options are exhausted, contrarian scofflaws can be fined more than $1,000 a day: $911 for not having a Maine registered vehicle; and $137 for not having a Maine license.

Denault said this week that his enforcement program to reduce the number of New Hampshire auto registrants who live in Lebanon may have gotten off to a slow start but it’s picking up steam.

Numbers obtained by The Lebanon Voice using a Right to Know request show that in February 2013, Lebanon residents registered 387 vehicles, compared to 418 this February, for an increase of eight percent.

Excise taxes from Feb 2013 rose just 6 percent this February, from $52,695 to $55,964.

These numbers included all registrations, not just new ones, which is the operative figure, Denault said.

He said in May he will be requesting from the state the number of new registrations in Lebanon between Jan. 1 and May 15.

He said whatever is deemed to be new Maine registrations, he’d argue that three quarters of the uptick would be due to his efforts.

“If I were to argue, if 200 come in, 150 out of them came from me,” he said this week.

While the reporting of new registration signups at Town Hall is sketchy at this point, Denault as well as selectmen say anecdotally they are seeing fewer New Hampshire plates around town.

Denault said he’s had people call him to let him know they were happy he’d come out to explain their responsibilities as well as how they’re hurting their own neighbors by not sharing the burden of town funding. Excise taxes are one tax that stays completely with the town.

When it comes down to crunching numbers of just how effective Denault’s efforts might be, he estimates that out of every 15 scofflaws he visits, about five are truly visitors to Lebanon and don’t need Maine plates and about eight need to register. Some folks, he said, just move back to New Hampshire.

He said last week within an hour he tagged three cars at the transfer station with out-of-state plates who’d come in to dump their trash, complete with Lebanon dump stickers

“One was a business vehicle worth about $450 in excise tax. Two others were probably $200 apiece, so (if they register) I brought in $850 to the town in one hour,” he said.

“For every hour of work, I average 250 bucks for the town, that’s a fact,” he added.

He reasoned that if 200 new registrations show up when he queries the state in May, and if you use an average of $100 excise tax per vehicle, that’s about $20,000, $6,000 more than what taxpayers approved for his position. He added there was the likelihood he wouldn’t even expend the full $14,000 during his tenure.

As of March 24, some $2,134 had been debited from the constable account, including $1,720 in salary and the rest for supplies and equipment, according to records obtained by The Lebanon Voice by filing a Right to Know request. Denault’s contracted salary included $20 an hour while he was performing tasks necessary to getting certified and road ready and $45 an hour now that he is in service.

Denault, who has a full-time job at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, usually works a few hours a week in Lebanon.

Weekly time slips obtained by The Lebanon Voice using a Right to Know request show that he worked 3 and a half hours on one day the week ending Jan. 26, four hours on one day the week ending Feb. 8 and 11 hours over two days the week ending Feb. 15.

Denault also gets one hour of travel time at $45 an hour per day for traveling from his Kittery home. He says he uses his personal vehicle and pays for the gas himself to get to Lebanon. Once he arrives in Lebanon he is compensated for mileage at a rate of .52 cents a mile.

Whether Lebanon will continue with the program after June 30 is unclear, but Denault thinks it should be a permanent position. He said that once you stop enforcing the law, scofflaws will begin slipping through the cracks again.

Earlier press releases heralding the need for a constable said there was $200,000 out there in excises taxes to be had from illegally registered vehicles.

Denault said some of these scofflaws are crafty. They’ve taken to hiding cars behind homes. He said the enforcement has to be continuous and unrelenting.

He said the biggest reason he believes so passionately in what he’s doing is it’s only fair that people who live in Lebanon pay their share. It also affects the state’s tax base, because these scofflaws are paying no income tax to the state of Maine.

He said longtime scofflaws that are prosecuted can actually end up having to pay back taxes to Maine for the years their cars were illegally registered in New Hampshire.

Meanwhile, the incentives for scofflaws are threefold: avoid paying a sales tax, avoid paying Maine income tax and avoid buying insurance as New Hampshire is one of few states in which auto insurance is not compulsory.

Denault, meanwhile, is certain his efforts are working.

Just travel some of the streets where there used to be so many Granite State plates, like Champion Street, Prospect Hill Road, Gully Oven, River Road, Indians Shores Drive and Upper Guinea Road and look, he said.

“You travel around town, you’re seeing less and less,” he added.

Denault, a locally renowned Elvis impersonator who says he’d been “laying low” the past few years, said he plans to reprise his act for at least one concert this summer at York Beach.

“I want to shed a few pounds first,” he said.

Denault hinted he might be willing to reprise his constable act next year as well, if Lebanon wants him to.