Norwich ― Slow-moving vehicles equipped with highly specialized cameras will soon prowl the city’s streets at night looking for vehicles whose owners live here but register them in other places to avoid taxes.

The assessor’s office has hired Municipal Tax Services LLC of Shelton, a firm that specializes in identifying improperly registered motor vehicles to help municipalities recover tax revenue. The company’s field investigators will begin combing Norwich streets within the next week or two, said Andrew Schilkowski, MTS office manager and IT specialist.

Field agents will drive through Norwich during the overnight hours, when most vehicles are parked. An automated plate recognition device with an infrared lens mounted to the agent’s vehicle will take pictures of license plates. An accompanying GPS system will note the approximate address of the vehicle.

MTS staff will check the registration with the city’s grand list of taxed motor vehicles, eliminating those on the list and retaining information on those not on the list. MTS then will check the vehicle owner’s address, voting records, social media posts and other sources to confirm the person’s residence and see if they have registered their vehicle in another community where taxes are lower or or non existent.

Residents found with vehicles registered outside Norwich will be contacted about the findings and be given opportunities to explain their situation or appeal tax assessments and fees.

The field agents will remain on public streets to take photographs, or in parking lots where they have permission to enter, Norwich Assessor William Lee said. MTS officials have met with Norwich police to inform them of their plans.

“The overall goal here is to make sure everyone is paying their fair share,” Lee said. “It’s only right to make sure everyone is pulling their weight.”

Lee said he occasionally receives complaints from residents who see their neighbors driving vehicles with out-of-state plates, potentially trying to avoid the city’s vehicle tax of 32.46 mills – the state-mandated high limit on vehicle property taxes. Many surrounding towns have lower property tax rates, and surrounding states have lower or no local property taxes on motor vehicles.

Lee said the city pays no upfront or retainer fee to the company. The city’s two-year contract with MTS calls for the firm to receive 50% of back taxes the city collects on vehicles, plus a $50 fee charged to the resident, Lee said.

State law allows municipalities to collect up to three years of back taxes on motor vehicles if the violation dates back that far, Lee said. Residents who move to Connecticut have 60 days to establish residency and register their vehicles. People who move from one Connecticut town to another are supposed to change their address within 48 hours, Lee said.

Active-duty military members and some federal government employees, such as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, who reside temporarily in a location, are exempt, Schilkowski said.

“I’m sure there will be some of that,” Lee said of the legal exemptions in Norwich.

MTS was founded by owner Carl DeProfio, a retired state trooper, in 2005.

In the larger cities where MTS currently is working, Waterbury, Hartford and Stamford, the company is finding 1,500 to 2,000 improperly registered vehicles per year, Schilkowski said.

In the smaller municipalities of Bethel, Hamden and New Milford, the numbers are lower, but with a higher concentration of vehicles registered in other states, Schilkowski said. He said that is especially true in municipalities that border another state.

“It’s an aid to municipalties that don’t have the personnel or funding to take this on their own,” Schilkowski said. “It’s a typically successfully endeavor for any municipality that wishes to do it.”

c.bessette@theday.com