Preston — A study conducted by two selectmen recommended that the town make no changes to the elected town clerk/tax collector and town treasurer positions, saying there was no clear advantage to converting to appointed positions.

Selectmen Lynwood Crary and Michael Sinko were asked to study the two positions earlier this spring to consider whether the town should created appointed positions and possibly separate the town clerk and tax collector positions.

Sinko said there is no compelling reason to change the town’s current system of elected officials for the positions or for changing the combined town clerk/tax collector position.

Preston is one of only two towns that currently have a combined town clerk/tax collector position, the other being Canterbury.

Relying on detailed data from the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities, Crary and Sinko reported that nearly half, 47 percent, of Connecticut’s 169 municipalities have appointed tax collectors, and about a quarter, 27 percent, have appointed town clerks. Of the 16 towns Preston’s size — population 4,700 — the percentages are nearly the same, with 44 percent having appointed tax collectors and 25 percent with appointed town clerks.

Crary said while it’s very rare that towns have a combined town clerk and tax collector position, it’s more common to have combined town clerk and treasurer position.

Crary said he was surprised to learn that there are no certification or education requirements for any of the three positions. The state does offer certification and training for town clerks and tax collectors, but the town treasurer position is considered “honorary” in many towns, CCM officials told the Preston selectmen.

It was more difficult to compare salaries, because of the variety of combined positions, full-time and part-time status and other shared duties. For example, with the treasurer position, Preston pays $28,870 to Treasurer Sue Nylen, while also paying $22,749 as the town government share of the salary for Finance Director John Spang, who spends four days a week working for the town school system. Statewide, salaries for town treasurers range from $1,600 to $38,977.

The salary range for town clerks is $30,908 to $56,600. Preston pays elected long-time Town Clerk/Tax Collector $53,333 for the combined position.

Crary said the town could consider separating the town clerk and tax collector positions, but it could cost the town more to have two part-timers and likely would be a reduction in service to the public. And, he speculated, the town might have a difficult time recruiting candidates for election to two part-time posts.

The two selectmen next will study whether Preston should consider hiring a professional town manager upon the pending retirement of First Selectman Robert Congdon after 22 years in office in 2017. The two selectmen already have gathered the data on town managers statewide from CCM and are expected to report those findings in late June.

“Not very many towns our size have a town manager,” Crary said.

c.bessette@theday.com