Norwich — Two mayoral candidates and one school board candidate on the Nov. 7 ballot owe back property taxes, according to city tax records, and all said they are working to resolve the issues.

Libertarian mayoral candidate William Russell said the $5,261 in back taxes owed on his house at 397-399 Laurel Hill Ave. are part of a divorce dispute. The attorney for his ex-wife contacted the tax collector office on Sept. 29 to arrange a payment plan starting in October, city Tax Collector Karlene Deal said Monday.

The house at 397-399 Laurel Hill Ave. is listed as owned by BR Libertarian LLC. Russell turned over the ownership to the LLC in 2015, also in connection with the divorce, Russell said. He lives in the house, which is adorned with numerous Libertarian candidate signs.

“Everyone knows where I live,” Russell said. “You can’t miss it.”

Petitioning mayoral candidate Joseph Radecki owes $271.56 in back taxes on a motor vehicle, and his two businesses owe back taxes on personal property, $1,386 on C&J Construction and Septic LLC and $129 on Joe’s Construction.

Radecki said he was unaware of the motor vehicle overdue bill, and said the other two bills apply to businesses, not to his individual property taxes. He said he is disputing the Joe’s Construction back tax bill.

Both mayoral candidates used the issue to press their campaign points that Norwich taxes are too high. Radecki obtained the entire list of back taxes owed by city taxpayers, and said the list is 88 pages long.

“Half the people can’t afford to pay their taxes,” Radecki said.

Lowering taxes and cutting city spending by as much as 25 percent is part of Russell’s platform.

“Taxes are way too high in Norwich,” Russell said. “They won’t be cut if Democrats or Republicans are elected.”

Norwich has five candidates running for the mayor. In addition to Russell and Radecki, Democrat Derell Wilson, Republican Peter Nystrom and petitioning candidate Jon Oldfield are on the ballot.

Democratic Board of Education candidate James Maloney said he has been trying to resolve what he said is an error showing he still owns the car with $1,820.66 in back taxes dating back to 2013. Maloney said the tags were turned over. He said he now has proof of the correction from the state Department of Motor Vehicles and hopes to have the entire problem resolved by the end of this week.

c.bessette@theday.com